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10 December 2024
Berlanga de Duero Castle.
Berlanga de Duero Castle.

I had my computer set up to change images daily using Microsoft Bing images. One morning, the picture showed this marvellous castle. As it is in Spain, there is an excellent chance that I will be able to visit it and take it off of my bucket list.

About the Berlanga De Duero Castle.

The Berlanga De Duero Castle was built in 1527 and is in Spain's Castile and Leon area.

The building consists of two fortified enclosures of different historical and constructive stages, one from medieval times and the other from the Renaissance period. The origin of the medieval castle of Berlanga is unclear. Still, archaeological excavations place it around the 10th to 16th centuries as an Islamic fortress from which there are hardly any visible remains. It played an essential role on the border with the Christian kingdoms. In 1059, Ferdinand I of Castile managed to take Berlanga, which led to the first work repairing and reforming the castle.

In 1370, Berlanga passed into the hands of the Tovar family. Juan Fernández de Tovar made further modifications to the castle, although it is not known precisely which parts. Late in the fifteenth century, Louis de Tovar and his wife Isabel de Guzmán made the last significant changes in the medieval castle. They mainly affected the palatial area and the homage tower, in which they placed eight coats of arms corresponding to the lineages of their ancestors.

After the death of Luis de Tovar, his only daughter Maria de Tovar inherited the entire 'majorazgo of the Tovars'. With his death, many significant changes transformed the whole village of Berlanga, including the castle, which gave it its name and the appearance that it has today. Between 1521 and 1522, María de Tovar and Inigo Fernández de Velasco began the construction of a new fortress around the old medieval castle, which they planned to demolish.

The new Marquis of Berlanga, Juan de Tovar, stopped all work on the gunnery fortress that his parents had begun years earlier by retaining the old medieval castle. Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, the fortress lost its military function and became a prison and an arsenal. By the end of the 17th century, it was continuously being looted by the village's people and dismantled by the Marqueses de Berlanga themselves. This was aggravated by the fire in the castle on April 20, 1660, to the point that at the end of the 18th century, the building only retained its walls. At the beginning of the 21st century, the City Council of Berlanga de Duero acquired the entire monumental complex of the castle, walls, palace and gardens. They then began the restoration of the monument, which can be visited today.

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