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).
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.