Castle - Ponferrada Tours

The Templar Castle of Ponferrada is a jewel among the fortresses of the Medieval Age in Spain. It is the largest templar castle in the country, and one of the largest of all spanish castles. The Castle combines its 8,000 square metres perimeter with 13 different constructive phases, and 38 masonry techniques, along the centuries of its time. It features 12 towers, and 4 wall walks enclosing a massive bailey, an old castle, an impressive palace and much more.

The Tour of the Castle last around two hours and shows all the rooms opened to the public. The tour begins with the castle front and from here goes to the lower wall walk. This rampart arrives to the old castle and from here, we will return through the main courtyard to the tower of Moclin, to continue along the upper wall walk and finish our visit at the new palace.

Highlights of the tour are: The Castle Front, Barbican, Tower of Snails, Bailey, Lower Wall Walk, Tower of Cabrera, Tower of Badneighbour, Tower of Malpica, Tower of the Catholic Monarchs, Old Castle, New Keep, Tower of the Duke of Arjona, Old Keep, Main Courtyard, River Wall Walk, Cave of the Moorish Woman, Tower of Moclin, Upper Wall Walk, Palace Courtyard, Templar Library, Old Room, Palace Hall, Templar Chapel, and Templum Libri, an impressive Library.

The Castle of Ponferrada is a place related with mysteries and legends, old traditions and a scent of medieval and magic. With twelve towers, by some authors representing the zodiac constellations, it is also called the castle of the stars. Interesting medieval lords and warriors gave rise to the castle over the centuries, specially the Templars, who were designated as lords of the old Visigothic walls, by the king of León Ferdinand II in the year 1178, and later, in 1211 lords of the town of Ponferrada.

The order of the templar knights left the castle in 1312, with the prosecution and dissolution of the order. The castle returned to the kings and passed to the Castro lineage, under Pedro Fernández de Castro. The Duke of Arjona was the next lord of the castle. The most important character or lord related to the fortress was Pedro Álvarez Osorio, the Count of Lemos, who built most of the current castle structures in the XV century. From this time is the castle front, most of the towers and the new palace.

To the death of the Count of Lemos followed a battle between Rodrigo Osorio, grandson and heir of the Count and the Catholic Monarchs, which ended with the defeat of Rodrigo and the castle on the hands of Isabella and Ferdinand of Castile and Aragon. The Monarchs designated Juan de Torres in charge of the fortress, he built the Tower of the Catholic Monarchs, the last tower of the castle. The Marquises of Villafranca were the next tenants for many centuries, until the Town Hall got in charge of the impressive templar castle of Ponferrada.

The castle was almost abandoned in the last century, and some of its structures were damaged. The Independence War that had taken place the century before also helped the ruin of the fortress. There was even the idea in the XX century, when the city soccer team was being created, of using the main courtyard as the team field, and the bailey was filled. The last five decades, however, have seen really interesting projects of reconstruction, the opening of fantastic permanent expositions as Templum Libri and the Templar Library, and other travelling exhibitions and events, make of the Castle of Ponferrada the most interesting.