Amaiur Museum Entrance

The treasures of the castle at your fingertips!

The Amaiur Museum is located on the first floor of a manor house on the main street of the town. It has an area of 150 square meters of which 115 are destined to the exhibition space. It exhibits the archaeological materials recovered in the excavations carried out in the castle over the last 15 years by a team from the Aranzadi Science Society. The castle of Amaiur de Real foundation is already mentioned in the XII century, so in this exhibition you can see how that medieval castle was: main tower, cistern; surrounded by a first wall with its five towers and a second wall with two towers. Throughout this exhibition, metal remains can be seen in the showcases, such as arrowheads and crossbow points, decorative appliqués of the soldiers' clothing, ceramic fragments of vessels and remains of nails from their wooden structures. We can even observe a large spearhead, or coins. All this gives us an insight into the daily life of the garrisons that guarded this castle in the Middle Ages. Usually, they did not usually exceed 20 soldiers, although in times of war the garrison could increase considerably. The showcases display numerous projectiles, large solid iron balls of 14.15 kilos each, which have been recovered from different parts of the castle. It also highlights the reproduction of an armored door with iron plates. But undoubtedly, the most spectacular piece is the so-called "Sword of Amaiur" that appeared along with fragments of projectiles and objects of the time. It is now on display in one of the showcases of the exhibition. In addition, when the castle was enlarged, the need arose to build a new water tank or cistern, in order to be able to support a greater number of soldiers. This cistern is preserved in the site that was covered by a barrel vault made of limestone ashlar blocks. The archaeological center exhibits the objects found at the bottom, such as the wooden and iron bucket that was used to extract water, two silver-plated spearheads, a wooden kaiku and jars for carrying water. Some of these objects are made of wood and have been preserved thanks to the humidity and anaerobic conditions inside the castle. The last section of the Amaiur exhibition center is called memory. This section shows how, over the centuries, the events that took place in 1522 in this castle have been narrated. Therefore, it is worth mentioning that the Castle of Amaiur was the last one in the current territory of the Foral Community of Navarre that resisted the conquerors. On July 19 the resistance ended and on August 11 it was rendered useless by the placement of explosive mines. These facts have been narrated during the last centuries. And it emphasizes a great showcase of 7 meters long where original publications of the XVII, XVIII, XIX and XX centuries are exposed. Through these publications the spectator will be able to make a tour on the written memory, which was transmitted from different points of view. This museum will become one of the references of the cultural leisure of the valley of Baztan and an essential element to accompany the visit of the village of Amaiur and the museumized remains of the Castle.