Tourist Attraction in Barcelona:
Castell de Montjuïc
The Castell de Montjuïc is an ancient fortification located on the hill of Montjuìc. The first construction that occupied the top of the mountain was a lookout tower that was used to inform about the approach of boats to the mainland. In 1640, during the revolt against Philip IV, the first fortification was built on Montjuïc, in order to repel the assault of the Castilian troops commanded by the Marquis de los Vélez on 26 January 1641. The fort was transformed into a castle in 1694 and resisted various assaults before falling in 1705 into the hands of the Duke of Peterborough during the War of Succession. This fall proved to be a decisive factor for the Catalans to stand for the cause of Archduke Charles of Austria. Recovered in 1706 by Filippo V, it was lost again less than a month later, and did not return to his hands until 1714. In 1715 the ancient fort of 1640 was destroyed in order to equip the castle with services, cisterns and a moat and, between 1779 and 1799 several interventions were carried out which gave the castle its present appearance. On 29 February 1808, the castle was taken by Napoleon's troops and in 1842, during the regency of Espartero, the city of Barcelona was bombed by the castle to eradicate a revolt. The same fate occurred to the city in 1843, by General Prim. From the end of the nineteenth century the castle became a prison in which the victims of political repression and members of the workers' struggle were locked up. The prisoners were also imprisoned in the castle during the protests of the Tragic Week and Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia was shot here. The castle is also sadly famous because, at the beginning of the Spanish civil war, in 1936 the nationalist general Manuel Goded Llopis was shot there and it was also the place where Lluís Companys, the president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, was shot on 15 October 1940. In 1960 the castle was ceded to the city of Barcelona by the dictator Franco, who after three years, June 24, 1963, inaugurated the Military Museum. Text processing: Giovambattista Spagnuolo (Myooni)