Castillo de Doña Berenguela

Bolaños de Calatrava, Spain, Spain

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Castillo de Doña Berenguela in Bolaños de Calatrava, Ciudad Real province, Spain, is a 12th-century Muslim fortress strategically built to guard the vital military route connecting Toledo to Córdoba during the Reconquista era.

Captured by Christians only to be lost again at the Battle of Alarcos in 1195, it was definitively reconquered in 1212 and donated around 1229 by Queen Berenguela of Castile to the Order of Calatrava, who established it as the Encomienda de Bolaños headquarters.

Repaired in 1520 against the comunero revolts and later used for cultural events, its ruins—revealing a defensive moat from 2003 excavations—now preserve this pivotal site's layered Islamic and Christian military heritage.