El Castell de Guadalest

El Castell de Guadalest (Valencian pronunciation: [el kasˈteʎ de ɣwaðaˈlest]) or simply Guadalest (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡwaðaˈlest]), is a Valencian town and municipality located in a mountainous area of the comarca of Marina Baixa, in the province of Alicante, Spain.

[citation needed] The medieval castle overshadowing the Guadalest valley was originally built in the 11th century, during the Muslim rule over the Iberian Peninsula.

It served to control the valley, as infighting between the smaller kingdoms left by the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba was constant.

[1] In the 13th century, after the Christian conquest of the region, the castle and the town were incorporated into the Kingdom of Valencia by James I of Aragon.

As Christian colonization was anecdotal, Muslim inhabitants of the region were allowed to remain in the valley and work its land until the expulsion of the Moriscos.