The Castle

Architectural characteristics

The castle is essentially a double-walled enclosure whose floors tend to the rectangular. The auter wall has twelve towers, circular or semi-circular, including those of a square-floored construction which from its position in front of the acceso to the main enclosure-could well be a bardican tower, at present demolished, at the south-east end of the stronghold. The main entrance gate faces the noth-east and consists of a rounded arch in masonry flanked by two semi-circular raund turrets with battlements. The passage between the two walls is narrow and in parts only measures 1m. wide.

The inner wall is higher than the auter one, with battlements and circular turrents except on its south-eastern side where the homage tower is situated, builtin quadrangular form and whese four migs reach 27 metres in height. The highest turret is an the north-eastern side, in which can be seen a domed develling. On top of the walls behind the battlements there is a path which links all the towers. This can be reached by a single flight of steps built on to the homage tower, or alternativrly, by an opening in this latter tower on the first floor.

The castle wall is constructed with an cuter layer of masonry and an inner layer of mud or adove.

Beside the homage tower is the entrance to the main enclosme in which can be seen a raunded arch in brick, reinforced by a pointed dome also of brick.

In the interior of the main courtyard there is a well with a half dome backing on to the east wall, near to the entrance to the homage tower. The archaeological excavations carried cut by José Maria Soler on the north side of courtyard uncovered a series of rooms, one of them built into the base of the north wall, with mud walls, and a waterwheel which no longer exist.

The facade of the homage tower has its two lower sections constructed using mud techniques while the top two are built of masonry. The entrance is high up, having a lintel outside and a dome inside. Here one can appreciate the thickness of the walls-they are almost 4 metres thick. In its interior there are four large rooms: the first, quadrangular in shape, has an almohad vault of light iron arches crossed in parallel double lines, forming a star in the centre. They rest on bracketo in the corners and on little corbels. In the second room a half dome, likewise almohad, is transformed into a cupola by means of crossed arches: four run from north to south, tree fromm east to west and two diagonally opposite. These two chambers are joined by a stairway with pointed domes. The third chamber has a horizontal roof, rebuilt, with a coffered cicling, and the fourth a dome, in this case original, with a half line of brick. These last two rooms are joined by a stairway with rounded arches in masonry in the first fligth of steps and with brick in the final fligth. The tower is crowned with eigth sentry boxes.