Montjuïc Castle

Castell de Montjuïc

The Montjuïc CastleCastell de Montjuïc (often called Palace of the CourtsPalau de les Corts, although it's technically inaccurate) is a military fortress in Barcelona, currently home to the Palace of the Courts and the Mediterranean Communications HubCentre de Comunicacions Mediterrànies. Although its military use hasn't been needed for over a century, it still keeps an active garrison with long-range artillery.

History

The first fortress was built in 1640 during the Reapers' WarGuerra dels Segadors, and in 1694 the fortress was built up into a castle with better defences. After the Treaty of Aran in 1714, Barcelona handed over the castle to the government of the Principality of Catalonia, which made all necessary modifications to act as the headquarters of the Catalan Courts, the legislative body of the Principality.

Funcions

Palace of the Courts

The Palace of the Courts is made up of the following rooms:

Plenary hallSaló de plens: the largest room, used for plenary sessions.
Arms hallsSalons de braços: three different rooms for meetings among the members of each armbraç of the Courts.
Meeting rooms: several smaller rooms to be used for meetings among specific members of the Courts.

Mediterranean Communications Hub

Montjuïc, as a high point close to the shore, had traditionally been used for communication with ships even before the first fortress was built. So in 1805, with the implementation of the Comital Emergency Code, Montjuïc became the control center of the network in Barcelona. 1880 saw the completion of the first line of the newly-invented Omar Telegraph, and after its success, the Mediterranean Communications HubCentre de Comunicacions Mediterrànies (MCHCCM) was established in the Castle. It includes a large tower that is always connected to all lines converging in Barcelona and also holds the Office of Public CommunicationOficina de Comunicacions Públiques (OPCOCP) headquarters.

Military Fortress

Montjuïc Castle is still an active military fortress manned by the Coronela, the royal army. Their task is to stand watch over both the land and sea that surrounds the city, as well as to maintain the fortress in good shape in case it was ever needed again for the defence of Barcelona.

Founding Date

1640

Parent Location

Barcelona

Entry for Worldbuilding Summer Camp 2023

Answering: "a building or landmark used for, or associated with, communication"

Visit Ondo's Competition Page Check all other answers to this prompt Competition Homepage

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. All artwork, unless stated otherwise, is made by Ondo (some of which using generative AI). Heraldic shields and flags are either made/modified by Ondo or used under fair use to represent fictional countries based on their real-world counterparts.

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Metadata
Organization Tree

Barcelona
- Montjuïc Castle

Article template

Building / Landmark

World

Black Light

Comments

Author's Notes

Thanks for reading! Here are some history notes if you're interested.

History notes

The Montjuïc Castle is a real fortress located in Barcelona and built in 1640 during the Reapers' War (which also happened and has a badass name in my opinion). However, everything after 1714 isn't real. In fact, during 1842 and 1843, the army bombed Barcelona from the castle to supress rioting—so it wasn't always used for defending. Moontjuïc, however, was a long-distance communications hub, with its telegraph line and, later, telephone line. The three "arms" mentioned in the Palace of the Courts section existed with this name and represented the three social groups: military (and nobility), church, and towns. The Coronela also existed and was the military unit that fought in Barcelona during the War of Spanish Succession. Since that War is the main point of divergence for my alternate timeline, I decided to keep the same unit as part of the larger Catalan army.

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Councilor of the Inner Sanctum Serukis

Jul 24, 2023 15:37 by Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

Great little article. <3

Emy x
Explore Etrea

Forgemaster Ondo

Jul 24, 2023 16:07

Thank you! <3

[they/them] Creator of Black Light, a science-fantasy universe.

Venerable Master barriesaxxy

Jul 28, 2023 05:27 by Marjorie Ariel

Love reading about all the historical inspiration for your world. I also thought the Reapers War was a cool name--I'm amazed to hear it was a real event!

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