Torre d'Alcalfar
| Torre d'Alcalfar | ||
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_-_2.jpg) The Torre d'Alcalfar |
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| Alternative name (s): | Torre de Alcaufar | |
| Creation time : | 1786/87 | |
| Conservation status: | restored (1994) | |
| Construction: | Limestone - masonry | |
| Place: | Punta del Morro d'Alcalfar, Sant Lluís | |
| Geographical location | 39 ° 49 '30.4 " N , 4 ° 17' 45.8" E | |
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The Torre d'Alcalfar or Torre de Alcaufar is a defense tower at Cape Punta del Morro d'Alcalfar in the municipality of Sant Lluís on the Balearic island of Menorca . Together with the Torre de Son Ganxo , also completed in 1787, it served the British as a model for the eleven Martello towers , which they built on the coast of the island from 1798 to 1802.
description
The tower was built from 1786 to 1787 according to plans by the military engineer Ramón Santander to protect the flat coast in southeast Menorca against attacks by Algerian pirates . The round, robustly built tower is almost cylindrical, but tapers slightly towards the top. It is made of natural stone, the Marès typical of the Balearic Islands , bricked and clad on the outside with large stone blocks. The wall is reinforced on the sea side in order to offer greater resistance to the fire from ship cannons. The tower consists of three levels, the floors of which can also be seen from the outside through protruding bricks.
Access was originally only through a landside door in the middle level, which could be reached via a retractable ladder. He could above it machicolations in the parapet to defend the roof deck. The corridor leading into the interior was also protected by a murder hole , which was also used to transport ammunition to the upper platform. The ground floor was divided into three rooms in which ammunition, gunpowder and provisions were stored. The crew's quarters were on the middle level. The cannon- equipped platform on the roof of the tower could be reached via a spiral staircase in the wall .
The ingenious construction principles of the tower convinced the British to adopt them for their own coastal towers on the island. Martello Towers in Ireland were also built after this model from 1804.
Current condition
The tower was extensively restored in 1994, but is currently not in use. Its entrance is now on the ground floor.
The Torre d'Alcalfar has been a listed building since 1985 . It is registered with the Spanish Ministry of Culture under number RI-51-0008583.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Torre d'Alcalfar in the monument protection catalog of the municipality of Sant Lluís.
- ↑ Francisco Fornals Villalonga: Torres de Defensa del Consorcio del Museo Lilitar de Menorca (PDF; 16.8 MB). In: Ejercito de tierra español 71, No. 834, 2010, pp. 54–59.
- ↑ a b Mónica Fernández de la Fuente: Torres Martello en la isla de Menorca (PDF; 1.19 MB), 4th Congreso de Castellología, Madrid, 7.-9. March 2012.
- ↑ a b Jason Bolton: Martello Towers Research Project (PDF; 1.7 MB), 2008, p. 23 ff.
- ↑ Torre de Alcaufar on the Arquitectura defensivo-militar de Menorca website