Castillo de los Templarios. August 2016
[from FB post: August 6, 2016]
Just back from the thing to see here, the castle.
It was a great museum because rather than focusing on the boring historical details of who did what and when, it talked about the daily life of the people and builders over the course of the centuries. It really put everything into perspective about why things were built the way they were. I think I learned more on this visit to a castle than I have in my whole lifetime about the evolution of "the castle".
And... As a bonus, the temporary exhibit was illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages. They were under glass but you could really see them up close. What absolute works of art!!
It was a slow, normal train ride from Lugo to Ponferrada, but the scenery was delightful, following some narrow river valleys. I arrived in Ponferrada and I found my hotel in the modern part of town near the station. After settling in, I was off to explore. Ponferrada was all about one thing, its castle. Not only did it have a castle, but the castle was from the Knights Templar!
The old town on the slopes below the castle was small, overlooking the River Sil. Most of the modern city was on the opposite riverbank. Ponferrada was in a lovely mountain setting but did not have much to offer tourists except its exceptional castle. I realized I had arrived too late in the day to make a visit, so I satisfied myself with a walk around town instead. I would walk back to the castle the next day when it opened.
The castle is enormous in size and the architecture is stunning. It was designed in a polygonal shape, with double and triple defences, making it an absolute fortress. The Templars Castle of Ponferrada was constructed by Ferdinand II in 1178 AD to protect pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago. The castle was named after the famed Knights of Templar who protected the town in the 12th century. The Knights were a fearsome unit, and one of the most skilled during the crusades. Having changed ownership a number of times, the castle is now owned by the King of Spain.
https://caminoways.com/templars-castle-ponferrada/
The best thing about this castle in comparison to all others I had visited elsewhere in Europe was that it focused not on the history of the castle, but on the daily life of castle residents. The exhibits went into great detail about the most mundane details, but it was fascinating. People had to LIVE in these structures during sieges for months on end. Where did their food come from? How about water? Sanitation? The explanations scattered around the castle were incredibly illuminating about basic, yet very important things.
One of my favorite takeaways from Ponferrada Castle was that the museum curators equated a castle in the Middle Ages to nuclear bombs of today. It seemed extreme, but it was also correct. Castles sat at transportation chokepoints on hills. It would have been difficult to "sneak past" a castle. Just as in the modern age nations increase their nuclear arsenals, in the Middle Ages more and more castles were built at strategic points. Many of them never saw action - they were actually built as deterrents. That all struck me as being very similar to nuclear weapons of our day.
If this all weren't enough, Ponferrada Castle has an original Knights Templar library which even holds some drawings by Leonardo DaVinci and is one of the best collections of its kind in Spain. As noted above, the castle and its contents are nominally owned by the Spanish crown, so at least the library is in the public domain. A few of the illuminated manuscripts were on display. Wow, does not even begin to describe these books cum artwork. They must have taken years to complete! Those books highlight the craftsmanship and detail put into making a single volume pre-Gutenberg.
Ponferrada in the bucket, I headed off to Leon.
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