Castell de Montjuic. Montjuic castle Barcelona. The Castell de Montjuïc is on the highest point of Montjuic hill at an altitude of 170 metres. Montjuic castle has a fascinating history and very nice views of Barcelona city and the port and beach area. It is open to the public and welcomes around 1 million visitors a year. Free admission Sundays after 3pm.

Tickets Montjuic Castle €5

A castle on Montjuic hill was first built in 1640 during the "War of the Reapers" between Catalonia and Spain's Felipe IV. In the 18th century following Barcelona's fall in 1714 ending the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14) the castle was rebuilt between 1751 and 1779.

The new fortress built by the Bourbons was constructed in the form of a starred pentagon with large moats, bastions, and buttresses. In the last 350 years Montjuïc Castle has played a decisive role in the history of Barcelona becoming a symbol of submission after the Catalan defeat to Spain in 1714.

Since then the Montjuic canons have bombarded the city and its citizens on various occasions and Montjuic has been used as a prison and torture centre repeatedly for three centuries.



The castle is infamous in Catalan history books because of its role in the civil war from 1936 to 1939 when both sides of the terrible civil conflict imprisoned, tortured and shot political prisoners at Montjuic, among them Lluís Companys, who was the former president of the Generalitat de Catalunya at the beginning of Spain's civil war. Companys was executed by the dictator Franco's regime at Montjuic castle in 1940.

Montjuic castle was previously home to the Museu Del Comic I La Illustracio and also previously home to the now closed Military Museum of Barcelona, but both museums closed afterwhen castle ownership was transferred to the city of Barcelona by the Spanish government in 2008.

Since then the castle has been used exclusively for cultural activities in the Montjuïc Park Centre. and the Barcelona Peace Centre. The Barcelona Peace Centre is managed by three administrations, the Spanish and Catalan Governments and the Barcelona City Council. Among the most popular activities is the summer outdoor al fresco movie screenings in the moat called Sala Montjuic.

Opening times Montjuic castle:
Open daily from 09:00 to 18:00

How to get to Castell de Montjuic

By public transport:
Montjuic funicular train from Parallel Metro station. At top cross road and take Montjuic cable car to the castle or walk from the top of the funicular train to the castle which takes 15 minutes.