Castillo de Mata

Castillo de Mata rises in Spain as a compact, weathered fortress with thick masonry, low ramparts, and battered angles. Its silhouette still carries the practical shape of coastal defence. Juan Alonso Rubián designed the first plan, and construction ended in 1577 under Governor Diego de Melgarejo. The walls faced a major assault in 1599.

Rebuilding followed van der Does’s attack, while later changes adapted the stronghold to new military demands. Military use continued until 1997. Archaeological work in 2002 uncovered the original cubelo, clarifying the fortress’s earliest arrangement. Ricardo Montesdeoca led a thorough restoration that finished in 2013. Contemporary exhibition spaces now sit within the repaired historic structure.

The Museo de la Ciudad y del Mar occupies four exhibition halls and a vault. Displays connect the fortification with sailors’ lives, urban growth from the fifteenth century onward, and harbour defences. You can move between scarred stone and clean modern installations in the same building. The contrast leaves one clear image: a defensive shell holding the city’s memory and its relationship with the sea.