Castle of La Suda

The Castle of La Suda, also known as the Castell del Rei [King's Castle], is a large ruined fortress-palace overlooking the city of Lleida, Spain. The currently visible Romanesque-Gothic complex, dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, when it was used as a royal palace, was built over a 9th-century kasbah andalusí. By the main entrance to the fortified complex, the Puerta del León [Lion's Gate], are the remains of the Roman wall dating to before 26-16 BC. Successive walls were built over and along it in the 9th to 10th centuries, the 14th century and in the 19th century.

The Court session held there in 1214 is notable for being the occasion on which James I of Aragon, then aged six, was recognised by the Catalans and the Aragonese and crowned King of Aragón. The signing of the Querimonia, by which James II of Aragon granted autonomy to the Aran Valley in 1313, and the Paréages of Andorra (1278 and 1288), which codified the joint sovereignty over the territory of Andorra, also took place at the palace.

The fortress was used as a military headquarters during the Reapers' War and remained as such until it was demilitarised in 1941. During the War of the Spanish Succession, an explosion in the arsenal destroyed most of the original castle. Although the castle-palace was declared a national monument in 1931, it continued to be used as a military facility until its demilitarisation.

It shares the hill with the Old Cathedral of Lleida, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1203 following the conquest of the Muslim city of Larida in 1149 by the Catalan counts Ramón Berenguer IV and Ermengol VI. On a neighbouring hill, just over a mile away, there is another fortress, the Romanesque 12th-century Gardeny Castle, built by the Knights Templar, and which defends the only accessible side of the castle. In the 19th century, at the time of Suchet's siege, there were also the two strong fortifications of San Fernando and Pilar.

The name Suda, from an Arabic word meaning 'enclosed urban area', refers to the 9th-century Moorish fortress, the city's principlal castle.