Gormaz Castle

Gormaz was built by the Cordoban caliphate in the tenth century, largely under al-Hakam II around 965, to hold the Duero frontier against Christian raids, and its scale reflects that: walls running about 1,200 metres along a ridge enclosing over a hectare, with twenty-eight towers, making it at the time probably the largest fortress in Europe. It was designed to hold an army rather than a garrison. The caliphal gate with its horseshoe arch and voussoir alternation survives, along with cisterns, the keep and long stretches of wall. The Cid held it for a period. It is open, free, unstaffed and almost always empty, standing above the Duero plain with a view for tens of kilometres.

What's there

• The caliphal gate - a horseshoe arch with alternating voussoirs.
• The wall circuit - about 1,200 metres of tenth-century enceinte.
• The keep and cisterns - surviving internal structures on the ridge.
• The Duero panorama - the river plain visible for tens of kilometres.

When to go

April to June and September to November; the ridge is fully exposed and the Soria plain is very hot in summer and bitterly cold in winter. The site is open at all hours with no gate.

Good to know

There is no staff, no interpretation beyond a board and no facilities of any kind. The interior is largely empty ground within the walls. The track up is rough and the ridge has unfenced drops.

Nearby

El Burgo de Osma lies northeast; the Rio Lobos canyon is north.

Key facts