Castell d’Eivissa (Almudaina)

Castell d’Eivissa (Almudaina) rises on Puig de Vila, above Eivissa’s old town and its harbour. From this hill, walls, towers and courtyards overlook the southern coast and the Mediterranean. The fortress forms part of Dalt Vila, where several buildings occupy a site shaped by centuries of defence and government.

Phoenician fortifications stood here in the seventh century BC, while Arab rule gave the stronghold much of its present form. The Almudaina served as the Muslim governor’s administrative and military headquarters. Its original elongated plan included nine square towers, and the later castle follows a quadrangular layout with towers at each corner. The fourteenth-century keep stands on older Moorish remains as the highest and best-preserved tower. Ses Voltes preserves a portal crowned by the arms of the Crown of Aragon and Alonso de Zanoguera. Eighteenth-century infantry barracks surround the parade ground, joining the complex’s military layers.

The Sant Jaume bastion contains a military museum devoted to weapons and technology from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. Cannons, mortars, muskets, helmets and swords bring that history close enough to touch. At Sant Pere, a display follows the construction of the city walls and includes a Renaissance scaffolding reproduction. Giovanni Battista Calvi designed both bastions in 1555, leaving one precise date within this long defensive story.