The Castle Walls That Built a Local Hospital

Perched above Segorbe, the Castillo de la Estrella presents a silhouette shaped by the deliberate recycling of history. The town center, including the local hospital and the Casa de la Misericordia, grew from stones originally pulled from these ancient walls.

This location serves as a deep chronicle of human presence. Scholars investigate a timeline that includes an Iberian settlement and a Roman acropolis. While the presence of Visigothic structures remains a subject of academic study, we know from texts that an alcázar and its governor existed in the region. In 1245, Zayd Abu Zayd conquered Segorbe and retired there after signing a vassalage agreement in 1229.

The layout of the walls began in the upper part in the hill where the castle was located and descended along the street of the Argén, running parallel to what is now the street of Colón and the square of the Cueva Santa, before returning to the castle through the street of Tirador and the square of the Almas in a path of approximately one kilometer.

We invite you to investigate these ruins within the municipal park. You can find the remains of an aqueduct, of which only three complete pointed arches of ashlar remain along with the remains of four others, tucked within the old town alongside various wall fragments. While the primary castle is a ruin, the defensive constructions erected during the 19th century are the only ones in a better state of preservation.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons