Figueres' sturdy 18th-century fortress commands the surrounding plains from a low hill 1km northwest of the centre. The complex is a wonder of military engineering: it sprawls over 32 hectares, with the capacity for 6000 men to march within its walls and snooze in military barracks.
Built in the 1750s to repel French invaders, the fortress nevertheless fell to its Gallic neighbours – both in 1794 and 1808. Spain’s Republican government held its final meeting of the civil war (on 1 February, 1939) in the dungeons here.