page_title: Castelldefels Castle
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Castelldefels Castle / Description
caption_attribution_description: This is a photo of a monument indexed in the Spanish heritage register of Bienes de Interés Cultural under the reference RI-51-0005249.
context_page_description: Castelldefels Castle is a frontier fortress in the town of Castelldefels, near Barcelona in Spain, that was built to defend the frontier of the Carolingian Empire against neighbouring Muslim territories, particularly the Caliphate of Córdoba. The fortress was first recorded in the 10th century, as was the former parish church of St. Mary, contained within its outer wall.
  The castle occupies a hilltop to the northeast of the modern town centre and the castle complex includes the castle keep, a church, associated outbuildings, and a cemetery, all contained within a curtain wall. The hill was first occupied in ancient times and archaeologists have excavated remains of a Laietani settlement dating from the 3rd to the 1st century BC, and a Roman villa dating from the 1st to the 6th century AD. The castle was first recorded in AD 967, and by the 14th century a fortified house existed with a strong curtain wall. The church was also fortified in the 14th century. The castle as it stands today was largely built in the 16th century as a response to the expansion of the Ottoman Empire.
context_section_description: The castle consists of a fortress dominated by a high, circular tower. It possesses a number of smaller towers of a variety of types, and the complex includes a church, and residential buildings on the western side. The southern portion of the castle bailey is occupied by the partially fortified church and its associated outbuildings, including the rectory and vestry, and a cemetery. The castle keep, actually consisting of two main buildings, is on the west side. The eastern portion of the keep is built from red sandstone, quarried in Begues. The western portion is bulkier and has plaster-coated masonry, giving it a beige colour.
  The entire complex of buildings, incorporating both the keep and the church and their associated outbuildings, is contained within a fortified enclosure, the wall of which has been modified throughout the castle's history. The outer gate of the castle is at the northern extreme of the bailey; it is decorative in nature and was built in 1897.
caption: The eastern section of the castle keep
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