Castillo de Cumbres Mayores

Cumbres Mayores, Spain, Spain

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Castillo de Cumbres Mayores, also called Castillo de Sancho IV el Bravo, is a large 13th-century fortress in Cumbres Mayores, Huelva province, Spain, commissioned in 1293 by King Sancho IV as the biggest stronghold in the "Banda Gallega" defensive line against Portuguese expansion, completed under Fernando IV with 15th-century reforms. Its irregular nine-sided polygonal layout features 400 meters of 10-meter-high, 3-meter-thick walls with nine robust towers—square and round—built from recycled Roman stone, including a distinctive bicéfala homage tower and the recodo main gate of San Miguel guarded by flanking towers linked by a matacán barbacana. Used for livestock and even as a football field until 1973-1999 restorations, it overlays prehistoric megalithic remains discovered in 2022 and stands as a National Historic Monument overlooking the Sierra.