Castillo de Torreparedones o de Castro el Viejo

Spain, Spain

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Castillo de Torreparedones, also known as Castro el Viejo, is a late 13th-century trapezoidal medieval fortress atop the highest point (nearly 600 meters) of the Torreparedones archaeological site straddling Baena and Castro del Río in Córdoba province, Spain, built after the Christian Reconquista to guard the Castile-Nasrid Granada frontier. Originally owned by Alfonso X and granted to Fernán Alonso de Lastres of the Order of Santiago for military service, it features defensive walls, corner towers, a central plaza de armas, and an eastern fortified enclosure with a possible 15th-century foso ditch, remaining strategically vital until Granada's 1492 fall. Abandoned post-16th century and privatized during 19th-century Desamortización atop Iberian-Roman-Muslim layers including the Torre de las Vírgenes, its ruins now anchor the protected archaeological park offering panoramic Campiña views.