Belalcázar Castle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Belalcázar Castle
Main tower of the castle

The Castillo de Belalcázar (also called Castillo de Gabete ) is a castle in Belalcázar , a municipality in the province of Cordoba in the autonomous region of Andalusia ( Spain ), which was built in the 15th century. The castle has been a protected architectural monument ( Bien de Interés Cultural ) since 1985 .

history

Gutierrez de Sotomayor , Grand Master of the Alcántara Order , had the palatial castle built. It seems that there was already a Roman fortification at the same place , which was continued in Moorish times. An important testimony from this time is an enclosure wall with Torres albarranas that are oriented towards the Arroyo Caganchas . Within this area, on the highest point of the hill, is the Bello Alcázar , from which the place owes its name. The name comes from the second half of the 15th century. The first mention can be found in a document that confirms that "Don Gutierre de Sotomayor , maestre de Alcántara" took possession of the fortress in 1445 after it was given to him by Juan II .

architecture

The castle, which was built with excellent granite stone carving , has a square plan with high walls. It was built from ashlar and was originally surrounded by a double wall ring, which are interrupted by eight polygonal towers. The towers mark the sides and corners. A thick row of cantilever cornices gives the castle its defiant appearance. Nevertheless, the most striking impression of the fortress is created by the torre del homenaje , which at 47 m towers over the eastern wall. In the lower third it has a square floor plan and merges into a round floor plan with several oriels in the upper third. At the transition, pyramid-shaped transitions support the walls. This points to connections to the Clavero de Salamanca , a work from the same era, which was built for another Sotomayor . The really extraordinary thing about the tower, however, is the cylindrical bay windows, which are alternately long and short attached to the wall. These surfaces are conveniently connected by curved ribbons with a gigantic coat of arms of los Sotomayor . This is part of the decoration of the tower as well as the corbel cornices, which are characteristic of the flamboyant .

Attached to the fortress and adjacent to the residential tower is a Palacio renacentista from 1539, which was built by a local builder under the supervision of Hernán Ruiz I. The palace gives a more humanistic impression. At the moment the palace is in ruins, only the windows are adorned with window frames reminiscent of those of the sacristy of San Juan Bautista in Hinojosa del Duque .

literature

Web links

Commons : Castillo de Belalcázar  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Juan Andrés MOLINERO MERCHÁN ' Palacio renacentista de Belalcázar. Humanismo del tercer duque de Béjar , Cordoba, Ed. Universidad de Córdoba, 2011

Coordinates: 38 ° 34 ′ 58 "  N , 5 ° 9 ′ 56"  W.