El Castell de Guadalest Costa Blanca Spain

The medieval castle overshadowing the Guadalest valley was originally built in the 11th century, during the Muslim rule over the Iberian Peninsula. It served to control the valley, as infighting between the smaller kingdoms left by the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba was constant.

In the 13th century, after the Christian conquest of the region, the castle and the town were incorporated into the Kingdom of Valencia by James the 1st of Aragon. As Christian colonisation was anecdotal, Muslim inhabitants of the region were allowed to remain in the valley and work its land until the expulsion of the Moriscos. The site then changed hands over the centuries.

On 22 June 1644, an earthquake partly destroyed the fortress. In 1708, during the War of the Spanish Succession, a mine blew up its western aisle during a battle. Nowadays only a small, ruined portion of the castle still towers over the valley.