Construction of Melilla la Vieja

Melilla la Vieja, the old fortified city of Melilla, is a citadel on a rocky promontory by the Mediterranean on the north coast of Africa. Melilla has been Spanish since the late fifteenth century, and it is one of two Spanish cities in North Africa, together with Ceuta, that are claimed by Morocco. The citadel was shaped by successive building campaigns from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, producing four walled enclosures separated by moats and bastions. Its design followed the engineering of Renaissance and later artillery fortification. The old town is a protected historic complex and a main tourist attraction of the city, with museums, chapels and views of the sea.

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