Loarre Castle

Loarre Castle

 

Location: Aragon Map

Constructed: 11th- 12th century

Tel. +34 974342166

 

Loarre Castle is a medieval citadel in the Aragon province of Spain. Loarre Castle was constructed in 11th century. Loarre Castle was built in the late 11th century during rule of King Sancho Ramirez I of Aragon originally as a royal residence and a launching area for military operations against Arab armies. It particularly was important in keeping an eye on the plain of Hoya de Huesca that was controlled by the Muslim forces. Medieval fortress was not the first citadel constructed on this strategic location. Much earlier fort was constructed during Ancient Roman period, although little remained today. In 1097 King Peter of Aragon and Navarre donated turned Loarre Castle into an Augustinian Monastery.

In the 12th century inhabitants of Loarre Castle constructed a Romanesque church of Santa Maria of Valverde just outside of its walls. It has three naves and a barrel vault. Even though Loarre Castle served as a religious complex, it still played an important role as a military fortification. The outermost curtain wall strengthened by eight tower were constructed in the 13th and 14th century.

Today medieval fortress is one of the best preserved citadels in Spain. In 1906 it was dedicated as a Cultural and National Monument of 1906. Despite many centuries Loarre Castle kept much of its original appearance and layout. It is one of the reasons why it was used in shooting of Kingdom of Heaven (2005).

 

Location

The location of the construction is a fundamental aspect to understand its military character. It is located at the entrance to the Pyrenees, just when the mountains give way to the plain, dominating the entire region. The great plain that forms "La Hoya" extends to the banks of the Ebro, to Zaragoza.

Behind the castle, to the north, are the Pyrenees mountains and the important city of Jaca.

 

History

The discovery of Roman coins on the site of the castle suggests that it was built on the Roman settlement of Calagurris Fibularia.

The castle was built between the years 1033 and 1035 by order of King Sancho Garcés III of Pamplona to serve as a Navarrese border outpost due to its strategic location controlling the Arguis and Riglos passes, from which they organized attacks against the town. of Bolea, located on the plain that dominates the construction. The royal building, the chapel, the Queen's tower, the parade ground, the military and service rooms and the keep (old albarrana tower) date from this period.

In March 1033, Lope Sánchez already appeared as lord "in Luar", while during the reign of Ramiro I, Fortuño Aznárez was cited as lord of Loarre until 1062, except for 1054, the year in which Lope Garcés appeared as lieutenant.

Later, around 1071, during the reign of Sancho Ramírez, an expansion was made to the complex and after which a monastery of canons of San Agustín was founded in connection with the monarch's policies with the pontificate. On October 17 of that year, Pope Alexander II, who on the occasion of the introduction of the Roman rite in the monasteries of San Juan de la Peña, San Victorián and San Pedro de Loarre, placed the latter under his protection.

Pedro I of Aragón, son of Sancho Ramírez, changed the head of the congregation to Montearagón, with which Loarre lost its monastery character. The eviction of the Muslims from the La Hoya region causes the castle to lose its military character, losing relevance and influence.

During the reign of Pedro II, he pledged the towns of Bolea and Loarre to defray his military expenses to the noble Pedro de Ahonés, who already controlled the area of Sobrarbe and to which he later added the town of Tauste by transfer from Jaime I, although after his rebellion and subsequent death, his towns returned to the crown once the rebellion in favor of his uncle the Infante Fernando was quelled, after which he gave his possession to the commander of the order Hospital de San Juan de Jerualén at least since 1263 and which still They held during the reign of Pedro III, who gave tenure to Abbot Fernando de Montearagón in the context of the war against the Union. In mid-1287 the castle was sacked by Pedro de Ayerbe, who was one of the leaders of the side and that after his death his son and wife must have paid a large amount to the inhabitants of the town for the damages caused during the period that his men were in the castle.

During the reign of James II, ownership of the castle was held by Blasco Pérez de Azlor until his death, after which it was granted to Pedro Fernández de Bergua.

Within the framework of the revolt of the Count of Urgell, this fortress served the Urgelist side, and saw action in the siege of 1413, when the Abbess Violante de Luna fiercely defended the castle but was also defeated by the royal side.

In the 15th century, the population that lived at the foot of the castle moved to the current town of Loarre, reusing materials from the fortress.

 

Description

The wall

The entire complex is surrounded by a large wall that was built in 1287. The wall covers about 10,000 m², is made of ten sections of walls 1.30 meters thick and has a perimeter of 172 m. It is made with semicircular towers of two or three floors provided with loopholes without any type of symmetry and whose diameter is between 3.20 and 4.50 meters and there are between 10 and 30 meters of distance between them. The exception to the shape is the three-story quadrangular tower with a semicircular arch under which is the entrance known as "Puerta de los Reyes" located on the western side, the main door is located on the eastern side, it is semicircular and is flanked by two semicircular towers.

 

Albarrana Tower

It is located in the space between the wall and the castle and has received the name of the "Watchtower". It is a quadrangular tower that consisted of three floors, its walls are not decorated and are smooth except on the third floor, where there are three windows, those on the east and west walls are mullioned and the south window has a semicircular arch. . It is topped by a hemispherical vault on four squinches. It is a barran tower as it is free from the castle and is located in front of the entrance, although the external wooden entrances and the possible bridge that would have joined it to the access ramp are missed. of the castle.

 

The Castle

The entrance door of the castle is in Romanesque style with three superimposed semicircular arches, the central arch rests on two columns that have two capitals with vegetal decoration, while the exterior presents jaqués checkered decoration with the remains of a Pantocrator as decoration in the eardrum, much of it having been lost due to restoration in the 1940s.

Behind it opens an imposing staircase covered by a barrel vault and adorned with a jaquén checkered border. On the sides of the staircase there are two semicircular arches that open onto two rooms. The room on the left side is the guard room, it is a small rectangular room, about 2.7 meters by 4.9 meters, while the arch on the right, above which you can see a chrismon, opens onto the crypt of Santa Quintería, semicircular in shape where it corresponds to the apse, while the feet are shaped like a rectangle and which was a burial place. From there, two narrow stairs lead to the church.

Above the crypt is the church of San Pedro, a Romanesque construction with a single nave and semicircular apse decorated with columns attached to the walls with capitals carved with fantastic, vegetal and biblical motifs. The nave is covered by a barrel vault and decorated by a long jaqués checkered border. Between the apse and the nave there is a 26-meter-high dome.

To the right of the construction are the quarters of the canons and the nobles who lived in the castle. There is also the dungeon (which was also used as a warehouse) and the weapons room. Several mullioned windows overlook where the town of Loarre was located until the 16th century.

To the south, in what was the original and most military part of the castle, is the parade ground and next to it the church of Santa María, the one that existed before the founding of the monastery. Highlights include the cistern with the capacity to store up to 8,000 liters of water, the military rooms, the north tower (which is destroyed) and the kitchens.

The queen's tower is located above the entrance to the military part and protects it. The keep, 22 meters high, has 5 floors and is connected to the castle by a drawbridge.​

 

Cinema, television and literature

One of the first films to be filmed in this setting was Valentina in 1982, starring Jorge Sanz and Anthony Quinn and directed by Antonio José Betancor based on the novel by Aragonese Ramón José Sender Garcés, Crónica del alba.

Loarre Castle was the protagonist of the filming of the film Kingdom of Heaven (2005) by director Ridley Scott, starring among others Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Liam Neeson and Jeremy Irons. The town of Loarre participated in the filming of the film by acting as extras. The castle can be seen at the beginning and end of the film.

It was also the setting for the film Miguel y William (2006), with Elena Anaya, Juan Luis Galiardo, Geraldine Chaplin, Malena Alterio and Josep María Pou.

On the other hand, the same castle was used for the recording and broadcast of the missing program La noche de los castles (TVE) (1994), in which a couple accompanied by a hostess from the program lived unforgettable adventures within it, with the mission of rescue the princess. Many theatrical actors worked for this program, but it was canceled due to lack of budget and low screen quota.

In the TVE series El Ministerio del Tiempo (2015-2020), the Loarre castle is used as a prison.

In 2015, the historical novel El Castillo de Luis Zueco was published with the Loarre castle as the central point of the story.

In the middle of the covid-19 pandemic, into the summer of 2020, several scenes from the series The Order of the Knights of Santiago were filmed using the Quebrantahuesos rugby team as an extra, who were the soldiers storming the castle.