Atienza, medieval village of Castile

Atienza was born and grew as a frontier: a stronghold between kingdoms, watched by a rock castle that the Song of the Cid called “a mighty crag”. Used by Celtiberians and Arabs, reformed by the Christians after the Reconquest, its hill changed hands again and again between the 9th and 11th centuries.

Declared a Historic-Artistic Site in 1961, it preserves an extraordinary heritage density for its size: a castle, two walled circuits, seven churches, four museums, arcaded squares and noble mansions.