The Castell de Sant Esteve de Mar is a ruined castle perched atop a cliff in the town of

Palamós Palamós () is a town and municipality in the Mediterranean Costa Brava, located in the ''comarca'' of Baix Empordà, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Palamós is located at the northern end of a large bay. The town is by-passed by th ...

, in

Baix Empordà Baix Empordà in Catalan (; en, Lower Empordà, italic=yes) or Bajo Ampurdán in Spanish () is a ''comarca'' (county) in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is one of the two ''comarca'' into which Empordà was divided in the comarcal d ...

, between

La Fosca La Fosca is a neighbourhood of the town of Palamós and a beach on the Costa Brava, located in the comarca of Baix Empordà and the province of Girona in Catalonia, Spain. La Fosca is situated between the port of Palamós and the fishing settlem ...

and the Cala s'Alguer. Only the bases of some towers and some walls remain, and is currently surrounded by a fence that prevents access to visitors. It is accessed from the path leading from the beach of Fosca to S'Alguer that forms part of the

GR 92 The GR 92 is part of the extensive GR footpath network of paths, tracks and trails in Spain. It will eventually run the length of the Mediterranean coast of Spain, from Portbou, on the border with France to Tarifa, the most southerly point of Spa ...

long distance footpath.

History

Finds of pottery from the

Roman period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

have been documented on the existing land next to the castle, together with remains of walls and pavements of

opus signinum ''Opus signinum'' ('cocciopesto' in modern Italian) is a building material used in ancient Rome. It is made of tiles broken up into very small pieces, mixed with mortar, and then beaten down with a rammer. Pliny the Elder in his '' Natural Histor ...

, which are believed to be part of a

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

. These remains indicate that the promontory of Sant Esteve was inhabited since Roman times, and was probably a settlement of the

Iberian people The Iberians ( la, Hibērī, from el, Ἴβηρες, ''Iberes'') were an ancient people settled in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula, at least from the 6th century BC. They are described in Greek and Roman sources (among ...

before that. Although the construction of the castle seems to date from the twelfth century, the first written reference is from the thirteenth century. Peter II of Barcelona (also known as Peter III of Aragon) had identified the need for a port to shelter his royal fleet on the coast between

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and the border with

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. In 1277, he bought the castle and its estate, with the intention of founding the town and royal port of

. With the construction of the new town and port, the castle lost importance and by the 14th century it became the private property of a farmer. In the deed, the name of the estate of the castle of Sant Esteve is changed to that of the estate of Palamós. The castle was later used for

maritime surveillance {{Unreferenced, date=March 2008 Maritime patrol is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities. Maritime patrol refers to ac ...

, as part of a defensive system established against

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

and

privateers A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

. In 1567 it was used as a

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

store with a small body of guards. Maritime surveillance was maintained throughout the 18th century, but in that century a farmhouse was built on top of the castle, taking advantage of its materials and structures. The farmhouse was inhabited until the end of the 19th century. Around 1930, the Russian prince

Alexis M'Dvani Alexis may refer to: People Mononym * Alexis (poet) ( – ), a Greek comic poet * Alexis (sculptor), an ancient Greek artist who lived around the 3rd or 4th century BC * Alexis (singer) (born 1968), German pop singer * Alexis (comics) (1946–1977 ...

bought the castle with the intention of restoring it, but his death prevented this. The property now belongs to Palamós City Council. The ruins have been consolidated as part of a program sponsored by

la Caixa La Caixa, also known as the "La Caixa" Foundation ( es, Fundación ”la Caixa”), is a not-for-profit banking foundation based in Catalonia. Originally a savings bank (''caja''), it reorganized in the 2000s and 2010s: Its commercial assets are ...

References

{{ref-list, 30em Archaeological sites in Catalonia Baix Empordà Buildings and structures completed in the 12th century Castles in Catalonia Ruins in Spain 12th-century establishments in Spain