Penafiel Castle

Penafiel Castle is remarkable, massive medieval castle, located in the Spanish village of the same name, which is located in the province of Valladolid in Spain.

Penafiel Castle dominates the high hill at one end of the town and its huge dimensions are truly an impressive sight and offers a view of the remains below the picturesque valley of the Douro River.

The top of the castle Penafiel determines the particular structure of the building, which is limited between two nearby fence walls. Only a distance of 600 feet from one wall to the other, the stone fence walls reach a height of 90 feet, and the main building of the castle is located in the middle of the palace complex.

The architectural style of Penafiel Castle is called "Gran buque", which literally means vessel. Indeed, the high castle, located with its defenses resembles a ship and is only built from stone blocks.

Penafiel Castle has a locked fence between the outer walls that have towers which are erected along the periphery of the hill. Especially for this castle the very crest of the hill had a long wall built along it which, is studded with many small towers.

This architectural plan resembles the layout of the bow and stern of the ship and they say it is called "Gran buque". Most of the walls were erected in the 13th and 14th century. Over the next century castle Penafiel was supported by several watch towers.

It is believed that Penafiel was built by Don Juan Manuel, who was one of the richest lords in Castile and who played a very active role in the policy realm. Don Juan was a grandson of King Ferdinand III. In addition, he was an influential political personage of his time, the ruler of the castle Penafiel occuppied a central place in Spanish literature as one of the most important writers of the Middle Ages.