Torre de Ressemblanc

Monuments

The Resemblanc Tower is located south of the town of Elche, on the outside of a farm to which it is attached within the so-called Huerto de la Torreta. Its origin, like other towers of the garden of Elche, is due to the fact that in the year 1552 a Berber vessel headed by Salah Rais, arrives at the coast of Elche, in the vicinity of the beach of Pinet, poorly defended by some watchmen. , to prevent the smugglers from crossing the lagoon under cover of the night and the controls imposed by the Marquis of Elche, and they realize the little defensive presence. They take land and quickly go to the town of Elche, where, after attempting their assault, they captured important booty in goods and people. This causes the authorities and the upper classes to create what is known as the Coastguard, an institution responsible for creating a dense network of alert and prevention of attacks from coastal enclaves and urban enclosures, since in 1550 the pirate Dragut, a mercenary salary of the Turks, punished the coasts of the Alicante garden where the defenses relaxed. Therefore, the authorities decided to provide the coast of Elche and the town of Elche, as well as its garden, with a defensive system that would keep the alert against the Moorish attacks, thus creating a series of defense towers with the aim of stopping the attacks of the pirates, raising a system along the huert and ilicitana coast with several watchtowers, among which they highlighted Ressemblanc, Vaillós, Palombar, Carrús, Asprillas, Estaña and Gaitán, that together with the coastal ones of Tamarit, Pinet , Escaletes, Talayola and Carabassí, constituting the defensive system annexed to the city of Elche and the fortress of Santa Pola, thanks to the expert Italian engineer Giovanni Baptista Antonelli in the year 1,562. It is a garden tower with a square floor and a prismatic body of four heights. The base is slightly rounded thanks to a solid plinth with a beveled edge. All the filling is irregular masonry formed by limestone and rigged with white lime mortar and gravel. As noble elements it is necessary to emphasize the masonry chained of its corners, finishing off with a corsera, of which at the moment only the modillions of the same one are conserved. The openings are of ashlar masonry, accessing the interior by an architraveled door that is located at the height of the second floor, covered with wooden beams and sky plementry. The first floor is covered with a vaulted vault and has an open space to raise the floor. The two remaining heights are very similar, being covered by wooden beams and brick plinth. These four floors communicated with each other through a spiral staircase, built in brick and plaster, which allows access to the roof by means of a sentry box also raised in material analogues. It has several rectangular and linteled windows and in its South wall there is a shield emblazoned in stone adhered to it. All of it is in a perfect state of preservation. Like the Tower of Vaillós, there are no documentary references about its construction period, although it has been granted a low medieval or even Islamic origin. The most probable thing is that it was a low medieval tower that dates back to the end of the XV century or the beginning of the XVI century, and its function was created that was control and surveillance of a piece of the Mayor canal of the town, existing in its surroundings.