The Castle of Barcience is castle in

Barcience Barcience is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. History The village was ceded to the House of Silva The House of Silva () is an aristocratic family of Spanish and Portuguese origin. History Juan de ...

, Spain. It was a stronghold of the

House of Silva The House of Silva () is an aristocratic family of Spanish and Portuguese origin. History Juan de Mena's ''Memorias de algunos linages antiguos e nobles de Castilla'', a work of the first half of the 15th century of noble family ancestries, ma ...

History and description

It was built from scratch in the 15th century. Erected on a small elevation of the terrain, it consists of a ortogonal main body, with two circular towers in the Western corners and two square towers in the Eastern corners, with the NE one being the largest one. One of the towers displays a relief depicting a

lion rampant The lion is a common charge in heraldry. It traditionally symbolises courage, nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness and valour, because historically the lion has been regarded as the "king of beasts". The lion also carries Judeo-Chr ...

, the sigil of the house of Silva. Despite the status of

Bien de Interés Cultural A Bien de Interés Cultural is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking countries. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" (" goods" in the economic sense) and incl ...

via the generic 1949 decree on the protection of the castles of Spain, the building has been however left in a situation of complete abandonment by the owners, losing pieces of the structure and enduring graffiti.

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * {{Spain-castle-stub Castles in Castilla–La Mancha Buildings and structures in the Province of Toledo