The Sant Ferran Castle ( ca, Castell de Sant Ferran; es, Castillo de San Fernando) is situated on a hill in

Figueres Figueres (, ; , es, Figueras, ) is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Alt Empordà, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Teatre-Museu Gala Salvador Dalí, a large museu ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

at the end of Pujada del Castell. It is a large military fortress built in the eighteenth century under the orders of several military engineers, including Pedro Martín Cermeño and Juan Martín Cermeño. It is the largest monument in Catalonia.

History

Following the negotiation of the

Treaty of the Pyrenees The Treaty of the Pyrenees (french: Traité des Pyrénées; es, Tratado de los Pirineos; ca, Tractat dels Pirineus) was signed on 7 November 1659 on Pheasant Island, and ended the Franco-Spanish War that had begun in 1635. Negotiations were ...

in 1659, the Fort de Bellegarde in

Le Perthus Le Perthus (, ca, El Pertús, ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Natives of Le Pertus are called ''Perthusiens'' and, in 2016, there were 586 inhabitants. Le Perthus is also one of French territories on ...

passed from Spain into the hands of the French state. That bastion had been the border defense for Spain, so to replace it and stop possible future invasions, it was decided to build a fortress on the hill in Figueres. The first stone was placed on December 13, 1753. The name of Sant Ferran (San Fernando in Spanish) was given in honor of King

Ferdinand VI of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Philip V of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Savoy , birth_date = 23 September 1713 , birth_place = Royal Alcazar of Madrid, Madrid, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Villavi ...

. Early in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

with France that began in 1808, the castle was captured by the French. On 9 January 1810 Mariano Álvarez de Castro, hero of the recent Third siege of Girona, was brought to Sant Ferran from Perpignan to be imprisoned. The following day he was found dead, of a fever, according to the French, poisoned, according to the Spanish. He was buried, wrapped in only a sheet, in the cemetery there. In 1815 a black marble tablet was placed on his grave which stated that Álvarez had been poisoned, and was a ''Victim of the Iniquity of the French Tyrant''. In December 1823 French troops, ironically invading Spain in order to restore the tottering throne of

Ferdinand VII , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_plac ...

, passed through Figueres, and on the orders of Marshal Moncey, formerly

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's Inspector-General of Police, destroyed the plaque. On Feb. 1, 1939,

Juan Negrín Juan Negrín López (; 3 February 1892 – 12 November 1956) was a Spanish politician and physician. He was a leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español, PSOE) and served as finance minister and ...

, last prime minister of the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 ...

, convened in the castle the final meeting on Spanish soil of the Republican Spanish

Cortes Cortes, Cortés, Cortês, Corts, or Cortès may refer to: People * Cortes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), a Spanish conquistador Places * Cortes, Navarre, a village in the South border of ...

. A week later, the fortress fell to the forces of Francisco Franco. From May 1940 to December 1942, Francoist regime used the castle as a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

where returned republicans from France were held. Thousands of prisoners were interned there, most of them to be distributed to other camps.

Architecture

The castle occupies an area of 320,000 m² within a perimeter of 3120 m, and cisterns located under the courtyard are able to hold up to 10 million liters of water. At its height, the castle could support 6,000 troops. After it ceased to be used as a prison in July 1997, it was opened to the public with guided tours to show the characteristics of the fortress. These tours emphasize the sophisticated construction techniques from the military engineering of the time.

Connections

The castle, being situated in the north-west of the town, is more accessible to tourists these days, since the Figueres Vilafant station has opened on the western edge of the town (the existing station is to the east of the centre). The castle is a little over 500m from Figueres-Vilafant station (using a footpath).

Citations

External links

Sant Ferran Castle official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sant Ferran Castle Castles in Catalonia Buildings and structures in Figueres Francoist concentration camps