Ávila, in the Castilla y León region of Spain, is encircled by the finest and most complete medieval walls in the country — and among the best preserved in all of Europe. The walled old town, together with a group of churches standing outside the ramparts, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985.
Dating in their present form to the second half of the 12th century, the walls run for a perimeter of about 2,515 metres, enclosing some 33 hectares in a rectangle oriented east to west. They carry roughly 2,500 merlons, 87 towers and 9 gates, with walls about 3 metres thick and 12 metres high. Built of grey and black granite — partly reusing stone from the Roman necropolis and older fortifications — the two most heavily defended gates, the Alcázar and San Vicente, guard the vulnerable flat ground on the eastern side.
