The ruins of Castillo de Ayerbe

The Castillo de Ayerbe is a 11th-century construction, currently in ruins, situated in the municipality of Ayerbe. Built around the year 1030 as a Muslim castle, it was designed to contain the advance of King Sancho the Great of Navarra. It was conquered by Sancho Ramírez in 1083, who ordered the reconstruction of the castle in 1084 before ceding half of its seigneurial rights to the monastery of San Juan de la Peña.

The property changed hands multiple times, passing to the monks of the monastery of Montearagón in 1099. Jaime I of Aragón recovered it in 1267 to donate to his natural son, Pedro, establishing the barony of Ayerbe. This barony was eventually sold to Pedro Jordán de Urriés, who suffered a siege in 1396 by the troops of the Count of Foix during an attempt to invade the kingdom of Aragón.

Today, only a few remnants of the castle remain on a small hill near the village, close to the Romanesque church of San Miguel. While its large dimensions and the reinforcement of walls with towers at the corners can still be guessed, the interior preserves no buildings, only a cistern and some very eroded walls. Most of the upper fortified enclosure dates back to the 14th century.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons