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Old Town Route
Next to the tower of the walls that you can see in the Plaza de la Generalitat, you have an informative accessible panel: it is accessible to wheelchairs, has large print for people with visual impairment, visual text in Spanish, Valencian and English, has a relief map and text in…
Medieval Castle Cultural Park (panels no. 36, 37, 38 and 57)
Bernat de Sarrià, Conseller of King Jaime II of Aragon, founded Vilajoiosa in 1301. Vilajoiosa was a pobla nova, that is, it did not exist before. On this hill a castle was built next to the town. It had a rectangular plan with towers at its corners. This type of castle was called "domus maior" (larger house). It was habitual in the south of the Kingdom of Valencia and the lord of the town resided in it. Around the castle was a moat. Calle Vallet ("calle del Foso") is still in this park. In 1708, during the War of Succession, the castle was ruined, but this place retained the name of "El Castell". Since then, the neighbors took advantage of its stones to build the suburb of San Cristóbal.
In 1970 the El Castell Public School was built here. In 2009 it was demolished to build this park. Then archaeological excavations were made, showing that there were no remains of the castle. There was only an underground gallery 5 feet high, dated from 19th century, that brought drinking water from the neighborhood of La Ermita. In this park you can see a section of its vault.
In the park there are panels that explain the castle, the anti-corsair defense in the 16th to 18th centuries and the Moors and Christians Fiestas, which originate from these attacks. This castle was the control center of the Villajoyosa anti-corsair district, which covered the entire Marina Baixa region.
Multimedia guide for panel 36, The Cultural Park of El Castell
Multimedia Guide to Panel 37, The Anti-Corruption Defense
Multimedia guide for panel 38, The Moors and Christians Festival
Multimedia guide to panel 57, The medieval castle
