Castle and Church of Santa María la Mayor

The castle-palace and the Gothic church of Santa María la Mayor crown Valderrobres above the River Matarraña, standing hard against each other. They were built by the archbishops of Zaragoza, lords of the place since 1307, and that is why the castle was more a palace than a fortress. They are visited with a single ticket, which includes the town museum, across the street.

From the dungeon to the battlements

The visit climbs floor by floor, as the house was lived in. Below are the chaplains' dungeon, the cellar with its wooden press, the stables, the only rooms that keep the original pointed vault, and the kitchen, of irregular plan, with a dome over the central hearth and two windows for passing out the dishes. In the pantries, remains of the 12th-century wall show through.

The noble floor is the work of Archbishop García Fernández de Heredia, who from 1390 turned the castle into a residence; he was murdered in 1411 and another archbishop finished the works in a hurry. The largest room is the Chimneys Hall, with monumental fireplaces, large windows with stone seats at the sides and the Heredia coats of arms; today reproductions of Spanish painting from the Meadows Museum in Dallas hang there. Next come the Lions Room, where official visitors were received, and the golden chamber, the archbishop's private room, with a coffered ceiling. Above are the oil store, the galleries of the granaries, an attic with Goya drawings made on Valderrobres paper and, at the end, the wall-walk and the battlements, with a view over the town and the Matarraña. The castle passed to the State with the confiscations and was abandoned; its complete restoration was finished in 2021.

The church and its rose window

Santa María la Mayor was begun in 1314, halted by the plague of 1348 and finished around the 1430s. It has a single nave, with side chapels and a seven-sided apse. Its image is the portal, with eleven archivolts and a rose window of about six metres above it. The third bay of the nave collapsed in 1877 and was rebuilt in the late 2000s. The high altarpiece, commissioned from the painter Jerónimo Vallejo in the 16th century, was destroyed in 1936; from a photograph of 1919 it has been rebuilt digitally and is projected onto the gable wall fifteen minutes before each guided visit.

The museum

The museum is at Calle La Paz, 7, opened in 2015 and is the only space in the complex accessible to people with reduced mobility. It explains the styles of the Matarraña with models and audiovisuals, and keeps a room devoted to the soprano Elvira de Hidalgo, born in Valderrobres and teacher of Maria Callas, with opera costumes and figurines.

Entry, guide and hours

Castle, church and museum cost €8, or €6 at the reduced rate for under-11s, over-65s, groups of more than 20 and families with at least two children under age, with proof. The guided visit adds €2. With the camera obscura you pay €10, with the virtual reality experience €11 and with both €13. Under-3s do not pay. It is bought at the ticket desk, opposite the castle entrance, in cash or by card, and there is no need to book.

You can go on your own, with a leaflet and screens on each floor; with the audio guide on your phone, of about 45 minutes of audio, in Spanish, English, French and Catalan; or with a guide, one hour. The general hours are 9:30 to 13:30 and 15:30 to 18:00, with more hours in high season, and the ticket desk closes half an hour before. In November 2026 there is a guided visit almost every day at 10:00 and another in the afternoon, at 16:00 or 16:30. In December it closes from the 21st to the 25th and there are no visits on the 9th or the 14th. For questions, call 978 850 725.

Getting up there

There is a free public car park behind the castle and the church. If you come on foot from the stone bridge and the old town, the climb is by steep streets. The castle, church and tower are protected buildings and are not adapted for wheelchairs.