The British director Ridley Scott discovered the XII century Castle of Loarre (Huesca) while he had been searching for locations to film his ‘1492: Conquest of Paradise’. The scene showing the castle was originally to be shot in France and is supposed to be France in the story, but the French castles available were not authentic enough to portray France, and Loarre is supposed to be the best preserved castle of the epoch in Europe. This magnificent castle can be seen at the beginning and end of the film, looming over Orlando Bloom’s humble blacksmith’s abode with some even humbler mud huts added by the production team.
Orlando Bloom described the castle itself as “breath-taking”, while Liam Neeson, whose participation supposed his first trip to the Spanish mainland, said that he found the whole country “mind-blowingly beautiful”.
The film, which deals with the Crusades and Jerusalem, uses real characters from history but falsifies many historical facts; so much so that it should carry a Historical Health warning.