http://www.canfranc.es/torreta.htm
 

In 1876, work was concluded on the new road to Somport on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees. This new road substituted the old horse track that had been used until then to travel between Aragón and Bearn. From that date onwards, the protection and defence of the route became of foremost importance, leading to the construction of two defensive towers and the fort at Coll de Ladrones. A few years previously, the French had done the same by building the Portalet fort.

José San Gil drew up a project in 1877 for the construction of two identical towers. One of these was later destroyed during the building of the Pau-Canfranc railway, while the other survives in perfect state to this day, at the foot of the N-330 between Canfranc and Los Arañones (Canfranc Station). This is mostly thanks to the decisive action of the residents of the area put a stop to plans to relocate it to Jaca when the road was widened at the end of the last century.

The tower is elliptical in shape and is built with carefully hewn ashlar. It has a defensive moat and four floors with capacity for 25 men. Inside, a staircase attached to the outer wall gave the soldiers access to the higher floors. In the past it had a kitchen, a first aid room, an officers’ room, a prison cell and a wood store. Today, the Ministry of Defence has ceded the Tower to Canfranc Town Hall and it is houses temporary exhibitions, a permanent exhibition on the Santiago Pilgrimage Way in Aragon and another on the construction of the International Station of Canfranc.