AEAC – Asociación Española de Amigos de los Castillos, Sección Provincial de Valencia

A national association devoted to Spain’s castles

The Spanish Association of Friends of Castles (AEAC) is a nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1952, following the April 22, 1949, royal decree that placed Spain’s castles and fortifications under state protection. It was declared a public-benefit organization in 1966, and Spain’s monarchs have held its honorary presidency since 1976. The association has 27 provincial branches and more than 2,400 members across Spain’s autonomous communities.

Lectures, research, and publications

AEAC organizes courses, seminars, and an annual lecture series. It has held four National Congresses on Iberian Castle Studies, in 1994, 2001, 2005, and 2012. Since 1953, it has published Castillos de España (Castles of Spain); 172 issues have been published, and members receive the magazine at no charge. For more than 30 years, the association has marked National Castles Day on April 22, presenting the Manuel Corchado Castle Studies Research Award and other honors. The Federico Bordejé Library at the association’s headquarters is open to the public and holds materials on art, history, cultural heritage, and castle studies.

The Valencia provincial section

The Valencia section was established in the early 1970s. Its activities focus on an annual public lecture series and visits to castles across the Valencian Community. In 2012, for National Castles Day in Valencia, it created the Colonel of Engineers Gascón Pelegrí Award for Valencian Castle Studies in memory of the section’s president of 16 years. The section has an ongoing collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Valencia to teach a castle studies course module and study castles in the province.

Contact

• Association email: aeacvalencia@gmail.com
• President: mjover@dca.upv.es; phone: 649 11 08 99
• Vice president: sam_museu@cullera.es