Spain · Restored
Castle of Tarifa
Castillo de Tarifa
The Castle of Tarifa is a medieval fortress on the edge of the town of Tarifa, Spain, founded under the Caliphate and later held by the Guzmán family. It stands above the strait with views toward Morocco and has been recently refurbished and opened to visitors.
Its prime
1296
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1296
What Castle of Tarifa looked like in its prime.
The Castle of Tarifa is a compact stone fortress of pale grey limestone with high, flat-topped curtain walls punctuated by square and rectangular towers. A tiled-roof inner block rises behind the battlements; the parapets have alternating merlons and projecting machicolations. A large arched gate leads into a stepped outer bailey and courtyard with terraces and a lower wooden platform. It sits at the town edge overlooking the sea and the Moroccan coast; at its prime the walls and battlements were intact and continuous.
Its story
The story of Castle of Tarifa.
Abd al-Rahman III's Alcázar, 960
Tarifa lies at the southern extreme of the Iberian peninsula, on the Strait of Gibraltar, and the castle has carried out military duties tied to that position since the day it was built. Roman structures have been traced inside it, but the standing fortress is caliphal work: Abd al-Rahman III, Caliph of Córdoba, ordered the alcázar raised in 960. Its plan is trapezoidal, following the scarp it sits on, and of the fifteen stout towers set along its walls, thirteen survive.
Guzmán el Bueno and the Castilian Conquest
When Sancho IV of Castile took Tarifa in 1292, the castle was handed to Alonso Pérez de Guzmán to defend. In 1296 the Infante Don Juan, the king's rebellious brother, besieged it alongside the Marinids and offered to spare the life of Guzmán's son if the castle were given up. Guzmán refused, and from that refusal comes the name he is remembered by, el Bueno, the Good. He founded the line from which the dukes of Medina Sidonia descend, and the castle still carries the family's name.
The Castilians left their mark on the fabric: the diamond-point merlons that crown the complex were added after the conquest, as was the masonry barbican ringing the alcázar, which once enclosed the whole medina of Tarifa with the castle at its south-western angle. The octagonal albarrana tower at its western end, the Torre de Guzmán el Bueno, later inspired the keep of the Castillo de Santiago at Sanlúcar de Barrameda.
Fadrique Enríquez's Palace and the Barbary Corsairs
Behind the western gate stand the sixteenth-century buildings that were part of the palace of Fadrique Enríquez, Marqués de Tarifa; a second and larger parade ground to the east holds a well and buildings of the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. In the seventeenth century the castle was restored to meet the raids of Barbary corsairs.
Tarifa's Resistance and the Ministry of Defence
During the War of Independence the castle was the centre of operations for the Spanish troops in Tarifa's resistance. It was declared a historic-artistic monument in 1931 and is a Bien de Interés Cultural in the category of monument. It remains the property of the Ministry of Defence, and after a recent refurbishment is open to visitors; the coast and mountains of Morocco can be seen from its towers.
Step inside
8 places to explore in 1296.
The record describes 8 distinct spots at Castle of Tarifa, including 1 interior: outer bailey and stepped terraces. 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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Clans who held Castle of Tarifa.
The families that held Castle of Tarifa for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Guzmán
Held by the Guzmán family of Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, 'Guzmán el Bueno', from whom the Dukes of Medina Sidonia descend.
From the archive
Castle of Tarifa on paper: the measured plan and period views.
The survey plan and photographs below are the ground truth this page's reconstructions are checked against, drawn and photographed while the castle was still a working garrison. Every image is public-domain or openly licensed, with its source named.
Tarifa
1800 · Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (via Europeana)
Public domain
Tarifa
1700 · Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (via Europeana)
Public domain
