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Castles in Granada

Salobreña Castle

Castles in Granada

Salobreña Castle

The Salobreña Castle is located in the highest part of the city of Salobreña (Granada province), therefore it enjoys, from its towers, impressive views of the blue sea, the fertile plain and the Sierra Nevada.

Salobreña Castle

Salobreña Castle - La Alcazaba

Salobreña Castle - Old Tower - Salobreña Fortress

 

Old Tower and Buttresses - Salobreña Fortress

Nazari Bath - Salobreña Castle

Salobreña Castle - Silo

Salobreña Fortress

Main Entrance to Salobreña Castle

Sited inside a tower with the typical single bent Access, this is a square space is covered by a bricks all dome. The outer gate, opened in the southern wall, consists of a brick archway with its surround. The inner door in the western wall leads to the inside of the fortress. The openings to control access and the marks left by the door frames have been preserved at the top of both inner and outer entrances. On the east side of the central space there is an embrasure for cannon. At the back of the niche on the north side, remnants of the outer wall of the tower, built with rammed earth, can be seen. This gate was built during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabel to strengthen the castle defenses, and was restored in 1974.

Main Entrance to Salobreña Castle

Main Entrance to Salobreña Castle

Cube Tower of the Salobreña Castle

So called because of its shape, it is semi-circular and placed towards the centre of the Eastern wall, which is the most vulnerable of the fortress. Both the tower and the wall into which it is inserted are built of masonry with battlements in the same material. They form part of the first artillery barrier from the era of Ferdinand and Isabel and contain embrasures for cannons and loopholes for firearms. Inside the tower there is just one room with a brick sail dome and a central ventilation opening. The archaeological dig of 2014-15 opened up its three embrasures. It is assumed that the present access to the tower was built in the 19th century as it has a masonry structure built to hold back the rubble from the crumbling fortress. Proof of this is the stretch of wall collapsed around it, which exposed the archaeological dig.

Cube Tower - Salobreña Castle

Cube Tower - Salobreña Castle

Cube Tower - Salobreña Castle

Access Door

Remnants of the gate which gave access to the wall-protected passage joining the upper and lower compounds can be seen on both sides of the ramp. This was built during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabel. The archaeological dig of this sector documented the base of these door jambs. It is situated between the second artillery barrier and the Old Tower which belongs to the upper compound. The Old Tower is the most important defensive element of their Christian fortress;  it was built in the 16th century over a smaller one from the Muslim era, but owes its present structure to the restoration by architect Francisco Prieto. Moreno in the 1960s. This tower overlooked the most vulnerable side of the fortress, which adjoined the Christian village.

Salobreña Castle Access Door

Entrance hall to upper enclosure

This long passage joined the lower compound to the upper one. To the south east it is enclosed by the second artillery barrier and at a higher level, to the northeast by the perimeter wall of the upper compound. Although the present structure is of Christian origin, it is believed there was a similar passage in Nasrid times.

There are artillery embrasuresslits at both ends of the second barrier and at the western end a flanking tower with slotted merlosloopholes on its balltements.

Beneath the second Christian artillery wall, the recent archaeological dig uncovered an older barrier belonging to the defences of the passageway-ramp of the Muslim era. The few remmants belong to masonry foundations which lead us to suppose that the wall was built of clayrammed earth; its disjoined layout contrasts with the straight lines of the Christian passageway, which was wider than its predecessor. The present passage reuses an elevated flowerbed built in the 1970s.

Salobreña Castle - Entrance hall to upper enclosure

Entrance hall to upper enclosure

Bastion of the Cistern

Designed for watching the coast, its present structure is from the 18th century, but it was built over an older bastion. We still have the 1767 plans drawn up by the military engineer Joseph de Crame, which enable us to identify the outbuilding that held the gunpowder for the cannons. Beneath the bastion lies the cistern, built in 1496 and which gives it its name; it is rectangular in shape and covered by a barrel vault. Around 1960, a water tank was built to supply the town next to this water storage.

FLANKING TOWER: It is a tower with battlements built in the 16th century of uneven rubble masonry. It has two embrasures for cannons at different levels on it northern side to protect the second artillery barrier.

Salobreña Castle - Bastion of the Cistern

castillo-de-salobreña-bateria-o-torreon-del-baluarte

Access tower to the interior enclosure / Alcazaba

This has a curved bent access within a square tower, originally built of rammed earth but now mostly with Stone and brick masonry.

Access to the interior is through a brick arch with a molded frame. The bent passageway is covered inside by two half-barrel vaults connected by a groin vault. On the right wall there are two niches, topped with semi-circular brick arches, with seats for the guards to rest. Opposite the access gate is another niche which, once the Christians took charge of the castle, held a statue of Saint Onuphrius. The exit towards the upper compound is through another brick archway in the northern wall of the tower.

Salobreña Castle - Access tower to the interior enclosure / Alcazaba

Salobreña Castle - Access tower to the interior enclosure / Alcazaba

Salobreña Castle - Access tower to the interior enclosure / Alcazaba

Salobreña Castle - Access tower to the interior enclosure / Alcazaba

Military Building

The cistern is rectangular with walls built of lime concrete, almost a meter thick. It is tow meters deep and the storage area is six by three meters.  Its walls were covered by lime mortar to make it completely waterproof. It was originally covered by a barrel vault; many fragment of which have been found inside it. The eastern wall of the waste storage is shared with a rectangular two-aisle building enclosed by strong walls of brick and mortar. The aisles were separated by a set of arches with sturdy brick pillars which was later walled, so access was only available on the western side. Both rooms have remnants of brick flooring. This was probably a storeroom or bedrooms of the barracks in the Modern Age (16-18th centuries).

Military Building

castillo-de-salobreña-edificacion-militar

Cistern

The Water Tower and the Coracha Tower

The Water Tower is so-called because of the well and waterwheel beneath it. Water was brought into the castle through underground pipework from the canal which carried water from the Guadalfeo River to medieval Salobreña. Within the present tower, rebuilt in 1960, there are remmants of the old waterwheel well.

The “Coracha” Bastion is to the extreme Northwest of the castle. It was built in the 16th centuty, as part of the programme of reforms proposed by the engineer Ramiro López. It tended towards a trapeze shape and was built combining brick, rubble masonry and rammed earth, leaning directly on the rock. It is crowned by a parapet, most of which was rebuilt in the 20th century. Its purpose was to help protect the aid which came to relieve the fortress from the sea.

Agua Tower and the Coracha Tower

The Water Tower

The Coracha Tower

The Coracha Tower

Fuente: Salobreña Castle | iaph


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