Castle of Ayora

The Castle of Ayora is located at an elevation of 552 (1,811 ft) metres above mean sea level (mamsl), in the centre of Ayora, a Valencian town. Built probably in the mid 13th century, after the Reconquista, on an ancient Arabian building. The architectural ensemble was composed of the four-storey residence-palace, two fortified towns, and one large keep, as well as other rooms for the soldiers and serfdom, aljibes (European Middle Ages castle cisterns that collected the rain water to provide drinking water to the castles) and gardens. This was surrounded by around 0.62 miles (1,000 m) of defensive walls and defensive towers. The castle was reduced to ruins by the troops of Philip V of Spain, in the War of the Spanish Succession, but its profile and its vast size are still noticeable. The keep, of square plan, the Puerta Falsa (Fake Door), commissioned by the Marchioness of Cenete in the 16th century on which it was her coat of arms, as well as paintings, defensive walls, buckets, moats, and cisterns, stand out in the remains of the castle. Since 2006, it is a Bien de Interés Cultural (property of cultural interest) with reference RI-51-0010507.