Castillo de Aroche

Aroche, Spain, Spain

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Castillo de Aroche is an Almohad-era fortress crowning a hilltop in Aroche, Huelva province, Spain, originally built as a defensive hisn in the 12th-13th centuries to counter Portuguese advances toward the Algarve and Guadalquivir Valley during its time in the Islamic Cora de Beja. Conquered by the Order of the Hospital in support of Portugal before passing to Castile's "Banda Gallega" frontier defense system, its polygonal layout features ten robust wall sections, ten solid prismatic towers—most with upper chambers—and two gates including a recodo main entrance and ornate postern known as the Queen's Door. Reformed through the 17th century amid wars with Portugal, with added parapets and a 15th-century vaulted keep-like chamber in the southeast tower, it now houses a bullring and archaeological museum within its walls.