The Castle of Alcozaiba is located in the part of the rocky cliffs of greater verticality of the town of El Castell de Guadalest, province of Alicante. The fortress of Alcozaiba was built in the 11th century by the Muslims, and is located in the domain of the old Casa Orduña. Guadalest, a town of Islamic origin, whose fortifications were considered very valuable, was conquered by the troops of Jaime I, who yielded it to Vidal de Sarrià, whose family he belonged to until 1335, and later to the Infante Pedro de Aragón. From 1543 it was the center of the Marquesado de Guadalest, with which Carlos I distinguished Sancho Folc de Cardona and Ruíz de Lihory. It exerted its territoriality over a large number of population centers, most of which were depopulated after the expulsion of the Moors in 1609. It is noteworthy that the Orduña family maintained a permanent link with the city, as wardens of their strengths, governors or justices. A strong earthquake in 1644 seriously affected the fortification and the houses of the town. During the War of Succession it would suffer serious damage again due to the explosion of a mine. The defensive structure of the old Guadalest was composed of two castles, the castle of Alcozaiba and the castle of San José. The castle of San José is of Muslim origin. Currently, only one tower remains that has been restored.
Day by day, as a jealous guardian of the people, with the vibrant sound of the bell that gets into our minds by printing new strength and essence reminds us of the time of relentless work, media transformation, maturation and progress. Its history dates back to 1887, being mayor D. Francisco Rico Lucas, when he remembers asking a project for a tower architects of Alicante D. José Guardiola Picó and D. Enrique Sánchez Sedeño. In 1889 a new watch is bought in Madrid, for 11,000 pesetas. (Present), which would consist of machinery, three bells (large classic, and two smaller hemispherical), four areas, weights for rope and a floor for support campanile. It is wound with a crank, pushing weights hanging from two separate wire rope (as is done with a cuckoo). Weights are three: 500, 200 and 100 kilos; The big one is for hours, the median for the quarter, and lower the clock keeps running.
The archaeological site El Monastil (Property of Cultural Interest), of municipal ownership, is one of the most representative and rich elements of Elda's historical heritage. It is located in the rural part of the same name, in the eastern foothills of the Sierra de la Torreta. Surrounded by the Vinalopó River, it occupies an approximate area of 3.5 hectares. The main access is made by the southern slope, connected to the north entrance (Elda-Hospital) from the A-31 highway (Madrid-Alicante). The occupation of this settlement dates from the end of the third millennium BC (Chalcolithic) and the Almohad period (13th century), with a special development between the Iberian culture and the Roman period. Throughout its history, El Monastil has maintained a constant central position in the Vinalopó River corridor, constituting, within the Elda Valley, a landmark on the traditional border between Alto and Medio Vinalopó. It has also been a strategic place to control the main historical communication routes between the coastal regions of Alicante and the interior of the peninsula. Settlement of the Bronze Age and enclave of the orientalizing period, it becomes an important Ibero-Roman oppidum, ranking the territory of the Middle and High Vinalopó during the second half of the first millennium BC. C. Most of the construction remains are located on the highest elongated spur of the site, the upper area of the town, where remains of an Iberian, Roman and late Roman urbanism that shows houses of rectangular trend adapted to the irregularities of the place are preserved. , reused throughout these periods, and articulated around a central street that is divided into two roads to the western part of the settlement. On the southern slope of the town are the remains of a Iberian-Roman defensive system that fortified access to the oppidum, and that was possibly reused in the low-imperial and late-antiquarian periods. The remains of a singular warehouse of cereals are conserved outside the walls, located in the main southern terrace, which, in turn, houses a set of domestic and artisanal structures attached mainly to the Iberian and Roman periods. During this last period, El Monastil is traditionally associated with the Ad Ello mansion of Antonino's Itinerary. The vestiges of three kilns belonging to a pottery dating back to the late Roman period and the beginning of the imperial period stand out, as well as a small metallurgical furnace attached to the same stage. In the terraces closest to the river, south of the CV-8352 road, ceramic remains and vestiges of Iberian funerary monuments have been located. The upper part of the town is abandoned throughout the High Empire. After a broad chronological hiatus, during the low-imperial period the area is concerned, continuing the habitat until the Byzantine-Visigoth period, and beginning its decline and definitive abandonment during the Islamic era emiral. In the late antiquity period, the hypothesis linking El Monastil with the debated episcopal seat of Elo of the conciliar texts of Toledo stands out. Precisely in the western end of the high part of the deposit the vestiges of a Christian church of this stage are conserved. This church, which shows signs of abandonment and possible reuse in the early Islamic era, could be used as al-munastir. This denomination has remained substantially in the current name of the game and the archaeological site. Altogether, the archaeological site shows a relevant set of material constructions and vestiges of the following periods: Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Orientalizing, Iberian-old, full and final-, Roman-republican, altaimperial, bajoimperial-, Late-Byzantine-Byzantine and Visigothic, Islamic emiral and, to a lesser extent, the Caliphate and Almohad eras.
Constructed during the Almohade era between the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th. After the Christian reconquest of the 13th century the main compound area and the wall were erected. This work to improve the defences was due to the stategic character of the historic frontier of Jijona, which from the Treaty of Almiza in 1244 marked the boundary of the kingdom of Aragon with the kingdom of Castille until 1304 when conquest by James II brought the townships of the south of the Alicante province into the kingdom of Valencia. Until then it was a key element in the defence of the Valencian border. At the foot of the castle, in an easterly direction, the town of Xixona expanded. Throughout the Middle Ages the importance of the castle diminished and so to did repairs to it. The last major work on it was recorded in the 15th century and there were some further minor repairs undertaken in the 16th century. During the war of succession it served as a refuge for the population of Jijona, who supported Philip V. It was attacked by the Archduke Carlos’s troops (Austracistas) and almost completely destroyed. In 1708 Philip V conceded the castle to the people of Jijona by royal decree.
How P. Guichard affirms the castle of Ambra is one of the many Islamic castles of the Valencian territory that served as places of habitat and / or refuge in charge of the rural communities, with a non-feudal character and that were object of transformation and destruction after of the conquest. Old historians dated the construction of the castle between the 9th and 11th centuries, but the latest research and archaeological excavations date back to the early 13th century. The rubble of the castle rises on a rocky ridge formed by the northern buttresses of the Sierra de Mediodía, delimiting the Pego valley to the south. It rises to a height of 264 m above sea level and its construction is perfectly adapted to the rugged and rocky orography of the Ambra mountain. The castle did not participate actively in the conquest, but it did have importance in the subsequent Mudejar revolts capitanejades for el-Azraq. The year 1268 the castle was consigned to Arnau de Romero, Jaume I ordered that in the castle there should remain an atzembla and ten men. A year later he passed to Bonanat de Guía, who had it for a short time, passing 1260 to Pere de Berbegal, arxiprest of Daroca, guarding him with four men, to whom the king paid 150 salaries annually. In 1264 he passed the castle to Ade de Paterna for the debt that the child in Pere contracted with him. Charged the debt, the king gave in credit the castle to P. de Capellades. The 1271 passed in the hands, in the same circumstances, to Pere de Marcén. Finally, after being in the Saracens' mansion for three years, from 1276 the castle began to lose its military importance. It finished to lose its importance completely the castle when from 1280 it was begun to create the new town of Pego. After the second letter of settlement (1286) granted with better conditions than the first (1279), settlers from Barcelona begin to arrive that they are going to establish in a new walled town that has to be built on the old Uxola alqueria. The castle of Ambra is a late Islamic construction, that according to Javier Martí, begins towards the beginning of the XIII century, product of the fear of the Muslims before the threat of feudal conquest. What most relies on this statement is the lack of durability that the castle had (1220-1280). But the truth is, that the last excavations have not brought to light any remains previous to the chronology pointed. Established the chronology and durability of the castle, another of the important aspects is to know if it was inhabited or not, that is, if it served only as a military refuge or if there were rooms inside it. Approximately twenty houses existed with a staggered arrangement and taking advantage of the natural structure of the rock. The houses were of reduced dimensions and the work of mortar lime and limestone stonework of irregular size. They also had to have wood, although it was probably used later for the houses of the new village, since in the excavations no remains of this material were found. The remains of the wall of the enclosure show us the value of defensive architecture; the walls made of rammed earth, the foundations of Freemasonry and four cubes (towers) of rectangular plan in ixent reinforcing the wall. To the Southeast of the same one is the door of access to the enclosure, between the avantmural and the wall of the castle. The access consists of two doors arranged longitudinally interspersed between them a guardhouse. This body of guard allowed to make the guaita between the two doors during the night, as well as the rest of the walkers in their access to the castle. In the same bank of guard we can observe what could be a curious medieval game composed of eight holes in which one would have to face stones of different tamanys. In the excavations of the project "Transformations of the structure of medieval settlement in the lands of Marina", we also found in the door 5 bronze money from the reign of Jaume I (1238-1276). Inside the enclosure, next to the second tower of the wall a cistern or cistern of rectangular plant (12 x 3 m) realized in tapial that served to collect the water of the rains is emplaced. An avantmural or barbican closes the wall mural enclosure, also made in tapial although lower than the interior wall. It is endowed with an income in replec and three false cubes that adapt to the layout of the towers and the wall. Although the castle is in relatively good condition, the intense task of abancalament and the erosive action of atmospheric agents have severely punished the constructions.
Between the 13th and 14th centuries, the rural community of Calpe was walled in order to protect it from Moorish attacks. Its coastal location meant that the community suffered from continuous pirate attacks, which is why Carlos V ordered that the walls be repaired in the 16th century. Those who lived nearby had to access the citadel through a single gate known as "El Portalet". The harshest attack took place in 1637. Berber pirates invaded the town without being seen. The guards were sleeping, so they climbed over the walls using ladders. During the attack, they took virtually every resident captive. Another of the most important attacks on the town, which is the origin of its patron saint festivities, occurred on October 22nd, 1744. After this pirate assault a project to fortify the town was started, and a second wall that surrounds the suburb and the old citadel was built. The "Torreó de la Peça" is named after a small fort destroyed in the 20th century that once contained an artillery piece.
The rustic Villa Marco Estate dates from the middle of the 19th. Century and was very important in the agricultural area known as the fertile region of Alicante. At the beginning of the 20th. Century, it acquired residential character and a modern style with interesting colonial French art influences which differentiate it from the other estates which remain in the region. Its beautiful Versailles inspired gardens were created at the beginning of the 20th. Century under the auspices of Renato Bardin, honorary consul of France and owner of the estate at that time. Conveniently looked after throughout their history, they have experienced some modifications which have, however, respected their original morphology. The gardened area surrounds the house with pathways cut out of it and which are flanked with classical style cups and jugs The garden can be divided into five areas: the "Arabic garden" (originally used as an orchard) the "historical garden" where the most significant examples can be found, the "access garden" which was the carriage entrance, a small "Mediterranean garden" (with autochthonous plants) and a large pine area which represents the "Mediterranean forest". The gardens house two sculptures by the renowned Alicante artist Vicente Bañuls: "La Noche" and "La Marsellesa".
Alicante sculptor work of Arcadi Blasco, built in 1990, and noted for its architectural uniqueness. It consists of two parts , one on the ground, symbolizing a boat, and the other offshore (currently on the sand of the beach), symbolizing a beacon (or mast). Tribute to the men of the sea, represents the union and dependence that our population and its people have historically with the sea , vital for life and economy of El Campello for decades
El Caserón Haygón is a late 19th century construction of the Sanvicentera garden occupying a plot of 3,000 square meters. The school-workshop launched in 2001 has allowed its rehabilitation and recovery for public use as a training center approved by the Generalitat Valenciana. El Caserón Haygón has a ground floor of 200 square meters with offices, meeting room, secretarial office, toilets and a classroom with capacity for twenty students, while in the upper floor has four other classrooms. It also has a space that serves as a workshop and warehouse for tools and materials.
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