The Sant Ferran Castle was built to reinforce the new border with France. Works began in 1753, directed by Juan Martín Zermeño, and were completed in 1766. It is a fortified square, made up of two enclosures that occupy an area of 550,000 m2, of which more than 50,000 are covered. The inner enclosure, with an area of 325,000 m2, consists of six bastions joined by curtains, stables able to hold 500 horses and their riders, warehouses to store food for 10,000 people for a whole year, a main square, and pavilions to house soldiers, commanders and their families, a church, a hospital, an arsenal and a bakery. Below the main square there are four large cisterns able to hold 9 million litres of water in total. The outer enclosure, separated from the interior by a large moat, has an external perimeter of 3,120 metres.
Undoubtedly one of the most outstanding buildings in the city of Figueres is the Sant Ferran Castle. The photograph by Josep Maria Cañellas, from the Rubaudonadeu Collection, shows one of the entrances to the fortification: it is crowned by two tall side statues and a decorated tympanum. Right next to it, an ensemble of constructions belonging to the fortress that retained its original appearance can be seen. Pay close attention to the sentry box that is located on one of the interior walls of Sant Ferran and to a second door that provided access to another interior enclosure. This photo from the end of the 19th century gives us a magnificent image of the state of this fortress in Figueres. The collection is preserved in the Fages de Climent Library in Figueres.
Five “leagues” (15 miles) north of Girona, in the middle of a plain covered in olive trees and in another period in rice fields, stood a hill, occupied by the town of Figueres and crowned by the majestic castle of Sant Ferran.
(...) The traveller penetrates it, and admires its solidity and magnificence, its grandiose town squares, the abundance of its war supplies, the wealth exhibited there by the two greatest kings of the House of Bourbon, Ferdinand VI and Charles III.
From ESPAÑA: SUS MONUMENTOS Y ARTES, SU NATURALEZA E HISTORIA (SPAIN: ITS MONUMENTS AND ARTS, ITS NATURE AND HISTORY), by Pau Piferrer Fàbregas
This text comes from the Literary Atlas of the lands of Girona, coordinated by Narcís Jordi Aragó and Mariàngela Vilallonga and published by Girona Provincial Council in 2003.
Pujada Del Castell, 17600 Figueras, Provincia de Gerona, España
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