The village of Peralada is just 8 km northeast of Figueres, the main city in Alt Empordà county. Among the many attractions, like the medieval center, the summer music festival or the municipal museum, stands the Castle, with historical references of its existence from the IXth century. Denomination of Origin Peralada wines and the enormous artistic and architectural heritage that we find around the castle, worth a very interesting and complete visit to it.

Peralada Castle, near Figueres, Costa Brava

During the French invasion and Ampurdán crusades, in 1285, at the same time when the battle took place in Formigues Islands, the castle was completely destroyed by the troops of Philip III of France and the town burned. In fact, the village still keeps the remains of the ancient castle in the center. Therefore, in the middle XIVth century, a new one was built, which has been renovated on several occasions.

Gardened cloister in Peralada Castle, Girona, Costa Brava

The castle has an impressive heritage. Inside you’ll find the Gothic church of Carme, in whose tympanum is a sculpture of the Madonna and Child surrounded by angels, and its magnificent cloister garden. On the capitals are carved a shield with the symbol of the population (a pear), and other Carmelite emblem.

Noble Peralada Rocabertí family army shield

The castle library is one of its main attractions. Since the castle was bought by owners on a high bibliophile inclination, the library has a collection comprising some 80,000 volumes, including 200 incunabula, very rare or exclusive 700 copies, 800 nobility titles, etc. The existing document archive, a collection drawn from IXth century is also very important. But certainly this library excels in the collection of works of the great spanish writer Cervantes, with more than 5,000 copies of the great Castilian author, including 1,000 different editions of The Quixote, in 33 languages.

Peralada Castle Library

Peralada Castle also hosts the Wine Museum, located partly in the cellars of the Carmelite convent: a large exhibition that showcases more than 750 objects related to the wine world, some from the XIVth century.

Big barrel exhibed in Wine Museum in Peralada Castle, Girona, Costa Brava

Finally, the Museum of Glass (which also contains a collection of ceramics) is the most important of its kind in Spain. It exhibits over 2500 pieces ranging from Pharaonic Egypt to the XIXth century, through Venice items, Silesia, Bohemia and La Granja de San Ildefonso (the glass factory of the King of Spain, Segovia). In ceramic materials the Museum exhibits, among other valuable pieces, lovely grave goods comprised not only lar polls but also buckles, pins, rings, spears, etc. coming from VIth century B.C. and that some former owners of the Castle found when working on the refurbishment of the gardens.

All these museums are visitable and you should also know that the Castle staff organizes guided tours throughout the year, in order to show the private interior rooms to the visitors.