Loarre Castle

Loarre is often called the best-preserved Romanesque castle in Europe, and standing below it you understand why the claim sticks. Its walls and towers rise straight out of a limestone spur where the Pre-Pyrenees drop to the plain of the Hoya de Huesca, and the rock itself serves as the foundation, which made the walls impossible to undermine. From here an 11th-century garrison could watch the whole plain and, especially, the Muslim stronghold of Bolea below.

The first castle was built in the early decades of the 11th century under Sancho III of Pamplona, as a frontier outpost facing the Muslim territories: the royal building, the Queen's Tower with its paired arched windows, a chapel, the parade ground and a free-standing tower in front of the entrance date from that phase. The great second campaign came under King Sancho Ramírez of Aragon, who installed a community of Augustinian canons here in the 1070s and prepared from Loarre his push towards Huesca. For them he built the church of San Pedro, the heart of the complex: a single nave with a rounded apse whose capitals are carved with fantastic creatures, plant motifs and biblical scenes, crowned by a dome that rises to about 26 metres – rare in Spanish Romanesque. Beneath it lies the crypt of Santa Quiteria, known for its acoustics. The outer wall, some 170 metres around with semicircular towers, was added in 1287.

Once Huesca fell and the frontier moved south, the castle lost its purpose; it changed hands between nobles and religious orders, and in 1413 it was besieged as a stronghold of the rebellious Count of Urgell. In the 15th century the villagers who lived at its foot moved down to the present town of Loarre, taking stones with them. It was declared a National Monument in 1906 and restored in stages from 1913 onwards, with major work in the 1970s. Visitors climb the vaulted stair from the entrance, pass the crypt, enter the church, and continue up through the soldiers' quarters, cistern and kitchens to the keep, which was linked to the castle by a drawbridge. The castle appears at the start and end of Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven (2005).

Getting there

The castle stands above the village of Loarre, about 27 km northwest of Huesca. Huesca has a railway station with regional and high-speed trains from Zaragoza and Madrid. Zaragoza Airport (ZAZ) is about 81 km away. The last stretch is by road; the castle has its own car park.