Onda: the 300 Towers castle, the medina and the history of tilemaking

The photograph shows walls and towers of Onda castle with a building in the upper enclosure. The name “Castle of the 300 Towers” does not mean that three hundred structures survive: it comes from a medieval metaphor intended to convey the fortress’s scale.

The castle began as a fortified medina

The Andalusi fortress developed from the tenth century, with a walled medina around its citadel. Remains of the taifa palace can be recognised around a courtyard on the upper ground, while the history museum holds archaeological material including twelfth-century plasterwork recovered from an Andalusi house.

The old town continues below the fortress

Plaça de l’Almudí, streets of the former Muslim and Jewish quarters, devotional ceramic panels and Porta de Sant Pere belong to the urban route rather than the castle itself. The slopes and visual connection between walls and streets explain how the defences controlled an approach towards the Serra d’Espadà.

The tile museum explains the industrial town

Manolo Safont Tile Museum on Carrer de París holds more than 80,000 objects. Its collections cover architectural ceramics, machinery, documents and production from historic periods to the present, with particular strength in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is separate from the castle’s archaeological museum.

Check opening, guided visits, heat and mobility conditions before climbing; the tile museum has its own schedule. This documentary edit does not verify accessibility, surfaces, interiors or the availability of every gallery on site.