We continue fully in the summer period and what better way to take advantage of all our free time than to know our most unknown heritage. We already told you about the 5 most read articles on hermitages, we gave you some tips for visiting places in ruins this summer and now we show you the five most read articles on castles on our website that, together with our map of ruins, will make it much easier for you to locate and enjoy your forays into our heritage. You can click on the headline of each one to read the full article.
1- Castle of Puebla de Alcocer: The castle of Alcocer crowns the upper part of the town, standing at a strategic point from where the castle dominates a large territory. From this, you can admire an incredible landscape and it is possible to see the La Serena and Orellana reservoirs. Its origins are today disputed. For some historians its original construction is Muslim and for others, its foundation is linked to Gutierre de Sotomayor. There is no doubt that the construction has different phases, the oldest dates back to the 12th and 13th centuries and its imposing perimeter walls belong to this.
2- Castillo de Reina: The construction of the citadel is of Muslim origin and dates back to the last third of the 12th century, taking advantage of its strategic position that made this castle, together with Montemolin, an important barrier against the Christian reconquest. In the year 1246, King Ferdinand III the Saint took the castle and handed it over to the Order of Santiago together with the Villa de Reina, which is why it became a powerful encomienda for the order.
3- Castle of Burguillos del Cerro: The origin of the construction is Arab, but no element of its original time is preserved. The building that has come down to us is the one corresponding to the 14th and 15th centuries. As for the main structure, the castle itself is located at a higher height, and is made up of a solid wall with towers in which the keep stands out, without a doubt, of great size, made up of two bodies and quite well preserved both internally and externally.
4- Castle of Hornachos: Located in the Sierra Grande, the castle dominates the landscape and crowns the silhouette of the population. It was built by the Muslims in 711, taking advantage of its difficult access, thanks to the orography of the land, and its strategic location as a border between the kingdoms of Badajoz and Toledo.
The building was profoundly reformed by the Christians after being taken over in 1234 by Don Pedro Gonzalez, Master of the Order of Santiago, although its outer perimeter was respected, as well as some decorative elements. Unfortunately the outer enclosure has almost completely disappeared.
5- Villagarcia de la Torre Castle: The history of the castle dates back to the 15th century when Luis Cristobal Ponce de Leon ordered its construction around the middle of the century, and there is still evidence of this in the shield that is preserved on one of the walls of the building. . In a satellite image we can perfectly appreciate its square plan with attached towers, which creates a curious game of cylindrical forms, of which the tower of homage, of a larger size, is one of the few elements that survive. Its structure is made up of two well-differentiated enclosures; an exterior one formed by the wall and in which the keep is its main element and a second structure that stands out for the great height and thickness of its canvases and attached towers.
