Alcazaba of Badajoz
Encyclopedia
The Alcazaba of Badajoz is an ancient Moorish
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...

 citadel
Citadel
A citadel is a fortress for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....

 in Badajoz
Badajoz
Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain, situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana, and the Madrid–Lisbon railway. The population in 2007 was 145,257....

, Extremadura
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...

, western Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. The alcazaba
Alcazaba
An alcazaba , alcáçova or alcassaba is a Moorish fortification in Spain and Portugal. The word derives from the Arabic word القصبة , a walled-fortification in a city....

 as it now appears was built by the Almohad
Almohad
The Almohad Dynasty , was a Moroccan Berber-Muslim dynasty founded in the 12th century that established a Berber state in Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains in roughly 1120.The movement was started by Ibn Tumart in the Masmuda tribe, followed by Abd al-Mu'min al-Gumi between 1130 and his...

s in the 12th century, although it probably existed from the 9th century, when Badajoz was founded. In the 11th and 12th centuries it was the residence of the rulers of the taifa of Badajoz
Taifa of Badajoz
The Taifa of Badajoz was a medieval Muslim kingdom in what is now parts of Portugal and Spain and centred on the city of Badajoz which exists today as the first city of Extremadura, in Spain....

.

It was declared a national monument of Spain in 1931.

History

Badajoz was founded by Abd-al Rahman Ibn Marwan
Ibn Marwan
Ibn Marwân , was a Muladi Sufi whose family had come from northern Portugal and settled near Mérida....

 in 875. After he had led several rebellions, he was expelled by Mérida
Merida
Places of the world named Mérida or Merida include:*Mérida, Spain, capital city of the Spanish Community of Extremadura*Mérida, Yucatán, capital city of the Mexican state of Yucatán*Merida, Leyte, a municipality in Leyte province in the Philippines...

 but was given the chance to found a new city. Here, on a hill commanding the new city, he built a large citadel which granted Badajoz a strategic role in controlling the passage from Portugal to central Iberia
Iberia
The name Iberia refers to three historical regions of the old world:* Iberian Peninsula, in Southwest Europe, location of modern-day Portugal and Spain** Prehistoric Iberia...

.

The current line of walls date mostly from the Almohad
Almohad
The Almohad Dynasty , was a Moroccan Berber-Muslim dynasty founded in the 12th century that established a Berber state in Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains in roughly 1120.The movement was started by Ibn Tumart in the Masmuda tribe, followed by Abd al-Mu'min al-Gumi between 1130 and his...

 age, although there are traces of earlier work from 913 and 1030; in 1169 the Almohad caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf
Abu Yaqub Yusuf
Abu Ya`qub Yusuf or Yusuf I was the second Almohad Amir or caliph. He reigned from 1163 until 1184. He had the Giralda in Seville built....

 rebuilt the fortress, giving it its current appearance. The last Muslim restoration was carried on by Abu Yahya ibn Abi Sinan in the 13th century, few years before the capture of the city by the Christian King Alfonso IX of Castile.

Description

The citadel measures 400 by 200 m (1,312.3 by 656.2 ft). It is bounded to the north by the Guadiana
Guadiana
The Guadiana , or Odiana, is an international river located on the Portuguese–Spanish border, separating Extremadura and Andalucia from Alentejo and Algarve...

 river and to the east by the Rivillas torrent. The less steep parts of the slopes and other strategically weak points are defended by towers. The whole line of walls features a parapet, while the barbican
Barbican
A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from...

 and the ditch which once added protection have disappeared.

In the towers area was the palace of the lords of Badajoz, featuring several baths and mosques. After the Christian conquest, the largest, the Great Mosque, was turned into a church, , which acted as the cathedral of Badajoz until the construction of the current one
Badajoz Cathedral
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist of Badajoz is a Roman Catholic cathedral church in Badajoz, Extremadura, western Spain. Since 1994, together with the Co-cathedral of Saint Mary Major of Mérida, it is the seat of the Archdiocese of Mérida-Badajoz.-History:After the conquest of...

. The Great Mosque had five naves separated by archs supported by columns, and external buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...

es. For its construction elements of Roman and Visigoth
Visigoth
The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...

 edifices were used, such as capitals and columns. Another building of the Muslim palace which was converted after the Christian conquest was the Military Hospital, now home to the Library of Extremadura.

Another building in the Alzacaba is the Palace of the Dukes of Feria, built by the Grand Master of the Order of Santiago
Order of Santiago
The Order of Santiago was founded in the 12th century, and owes its name to the national patron of Galicia and Spain, Santiago , under whose banner the Christians of Galicia and Asturias began in the 9th century to combat and drive back the Muslims of the Iberian Peninsula.-History:Santiago de...

, Lorenzo Suárez de Figeroa (1387–1410). Built in Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 style with Mudéjar elements, it was restored in the 17th century. The façade features a central arch connecting two square towers with irregularly place windows; the palace has a trapezoidal plan and a cloister. It is currently home to the Provincial Archaeological Museum.

Among the towers, the most significant is the Espantaperros Tower ( or ), built in 1169 and with a height of 30 metres (98.4 ft). It has an octagonal plan, and is surmounted by a small temple added in Mudéjar style in the 16th century.

Other towers include:
  • Torre de las Siete Ventanas
  • Torre de las Doncellas
  • Torre del Alpéndiz
  • Torre Abarlongada
  • Torre de la Horca or Torre de los Ahorcados
  • Torre de Santa María, the most visible remain of the ancient cathedral
  • Torre del Palacio Episcopal (Bishop's Palace Tower)


Gates include:
  • Puerta del Capitel, one of the two original Almohad gates which have been preserved
  • Puerta de Yelves o de Carros
  • Puerta del Alpéndiz, in the northern side of the citadel
  • Puerta de la Coraxa or Puerta de la Traición


The Alcazaba includes also a large park.

External links

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