Castillo fortaleza de Santa Pola

Monuments

The Castillo-Fortaleza is a magnificent example of Renaissance military architecture of the sixteenth century. Projected in 1553 by the Italian engineer Juan Bautista Antonelli, its cost was borne by D. Bernardino de Cárdenas, Viceroy of Valencia, within the "Plan for the defense of the coasts of the Kingdom of Valencia." With its defensive structure it faced the attacks pirates of the Berbers who ravaged the coast. At the end of the works in 1557, a garrison composed of 33 people and their families were installed inside: the warden, an ensign, thirty soldiers and a chaplain, who lived on the walls of the Castle. With the passage of time, civilian uses replaced the military. On July 9, 1859 the Castle became the property of the City Council, carrying out renovation works, aimed at the building losing its character as a fortress. Since then, the site has been used for the performance of functions of various kinds, becoming headquarters of the Town Hall, Civil Guard Barracks, Court of Peace, hospital and even an improvised bullring. Currently, the Castillo-Fortaleza Cultural Center has the following facilities: Museum of the Sea, Municipal Exhibition Hall, Auditorium "Baluarte del Duque de Arcos" and Chapel of the Virgin of Loreto. The Patio or Plaza de Armas is part of the historical set of Castillo-Fortaleza and has a strategic location in Santa Pola. Visitors can not leave without having known it as a mandatory passage that connects the two parts of the urban area. It is a vital nucleus in all the epochs of its historical process. The Patio de Armas in its beginnings was a fortified enclosure, with a single access, easy to defend because the threat of possible attacks came by sea. Important historical events have also been raised: the Moors of El Arrabal de Elche were concentrated there, when they were expelled in 1609 to leave the port to the north of Africa, guarded by a company of musketeers and another of arcabuceros belonging to the Naples thirds and Sicily. Another important historical event was the visit of D. Alfonso XII on March 16, 1877 in the Royal Square. Teodoro Llorente, Valencian writer, recounts his visit to the Castle: When Don Alfonso entered the fortified area of ​​the old castle of the old town, all the girls of the place were aligned in correct formation within that great square, dressed in their best clothes and carrying a beautiful palm on his shoulder. On the occasion of this visit, Santa Pola was granted the title of Villa, in the presence of the Minister of the Navy and the Captain General of the Maritime Department. For a long time, concretely from 1860 when a new access was opened in the wall to the east, it was a zone of free passage, with which little by little it lost its character of Plaza de Armas, arriving sometimes to realize in it bullfighting spectacles . In recent years it has been recovering as a cultural space for Santa Pola, where recreational-cultural activities, religious and institutional events take place.