The palace of Olite in the panorama of Gothic palaces in Navarre

Olite is the most splendid of the palaces that have been preserved, the one that received the most attention from Charles III the Noble, but by no means the only one built by this monarch. During the first years of his reign, between 1388 and 1394, he carried out a total remodelling of the castle of Tudela and already there he had galleries built "in the manner of a cloister", so that people could circulate under cover, decorated with glass windows in which the Christian kings and emperors were represented. He also remodelled a chamber called "del bel regart".

If Tudela was the antecedent, in Tafalla he had a gigantic palace built in the last years of his life, with an extension of around 800 x 200 m in its widest part. The main difference with Olite was that the gardens were better integrated into the complex. In the northern part there were two large landscaped extensions, equipped with arbors and fountains, and linked by a tower that allowed in its part leave the passage of a public street. In the southern part there were two courtyards, one of them tiled, with the rooms and towers. The taste for the exotic is confirmed by the existence of two small towers, one called French and the other Moorish, of which not even a drawing has come down to us. The whole enclosure was Closed for canvases of wall punctuated by towers.

In Pamplona he also carried out works, which have left no traces in the current building of the file General of Navarre, where the royal palace had stood since the end of the 12th century. And in Puente la Reina and Sangüesa. In addition, the king collaborated with his family and friends to ensure that they had residences in keeping with their status. Castles such as that of Marcilla, palaces such as that of Mendillorri and town houses such as that of Chancellor Villaespesa in Olite have survived to the present day. All this enriches our knowledge of Gothic residential architecture in Navarre during the brilliant government of King Carlos III.