Spain · Restored
Castillo de Matrera
The Castle of Matrera is a medieval hilltop fortress near Villamartín in Cádiz province, Spain, originating in the 9th century. The site is dominated by a single tower and fragments of surrounding walls and underwent a controversial conservation and partial reconstruction completed in 2015.
Its prime
1250
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1250
What Castillo de Matrera looked like in its prime.
A compact, square stone tower rises directly from a rounded grassy hilltop, its lower faces of coarse, irregular pebble-and-mortar masonry and visible repairs; the upper volume was finished in a smoother pale lime surface in the recent conservation but originally read as a continuous stone mass. Low, irregular curtain-wall fragments and rubble outworks cluster around the tower base to the right. The roofline is a simple rectangular crown with few visible openings; the site is exposed to open countryside.
Its story
The story of Castillo de Matrera.
Umar ibn Hafsun's Fortress and the Moorish Frontier, 9th Century–1445
The castle was built in the ninth century by Umar ibn Hafsun to defend Iptuci, then the most advanced city of the Cora de Ronda, though Mount Pajarete had been settled since antiquity. In the 13th century it was taken by Ferdinand III, who rebuilt it, but by the early 14th century it had returned to Muslim hands; Alfonso XI reconquered it for good in 1341. Standing in the middle of the Moorish frontier, it was besieged by the Muslims of Granada in 1408 and again in 1445.
The Tower's Collapse and Restoration, 2010–2016
By 2010 only a few walls of the castle still stood, and rain further damaged the ruins in 2013, when a large part of the tower collapsed for want of earlier structural repair. A restoration project begun in 2010 and led by architect Carlos Quevado rebuilt sections of the tower in lime plaster matched to samples found on site, using large, plain blocks that outline the original shape of the structure while remaining visibly distinct from it; the work's later phase was authorised by the Junta de Andalucía. Quevado described his aim as recovering "the volume, texture and tonality that the tower would originally have had".
The work divided opinion. Spain's heritage body Hispania Nostra called it "absolutely terrible", while the architectural community praised it: the project was nominated for the 2016 Architizer A+ Award in the Architecture Preservation category and won that category's public-choice vote. The Guardian described the design as neo-brutalist and credited it with restoring "the clout its Moorish creators originally intended".
Listed Status Today
The castle was declared a national monument in 1949 and designated Bien de Interés Cultural in 1985. It was added to the Red List of Endangered Heritage in 2014.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1250.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Castillo de Matrera, including the full exterior approach. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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