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.
The Castle of Tarifa was founded under the Caliphate, on the edge of the coastal town of Tarifa, standing above the strait with views toward Morocco. Recently refurbished, the fortress has been opened to visitors.
The castle was later held by the Guzmán family and still carries their name: it is known as the Castle of Guzmán el Bueno, 'Good Guzmán', the nickname of Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, or the Castle of the Guzmáns, Alonso being the founder of the line from which the Dukes of Medina Sidonia descend.
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.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Castle of Tarifa with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1296, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Castle Siege
Play Castle Siege at Castle of Tarifa.
A strategy game played on Castle of Tarifa’s real ground plan: the same surveyed walls shown in the archive below. Post your finite garrison on the battlements between assaults, then hold out as rams, siege towers, trebuchets and sappers arrive in ever-worse waves.
Sign in free to see the garrison muster. One castle costs 150 Clan Coins and is yours forever.
Sign in to take command →Whose castle
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
