Photos

Hello friends and colleagues, today I offer this well and interesting view of a portion of the inner walls of this small but interesting castle, the beautiful and interesting town of El Puerto de Santa Maria, then some letters with the history of the castle and the city, I hope you like and I can be useful.
Ws in a view from above of the well with an interesting shade.

The Castillo de San Marcos in El Puerto de Santa María was constructed from an ancient Islamic mosque becomes fortified church in times of Alfonso X the Wise circa 1264, who strengthens its foundation exploiting the remains of a Roman building next providing it with vaulted roofs and fortifying the shrine with four towers, two hexagonal and two quadrangular plan, using the ground floor as the first chapel to the Virgin of Miracles. There are still the qibla wall where stood the Almohad mihrab and appearance of the building, which is evident in the horizontal lines and smooth with the upper ledge that ends outside the hexagonal tower and esquifadas vaults. In this church the king Alfonso X installed its new military Order of St. Maria of Spain, which soon disappeared to be fused with the Order of Santiago.

When the city was incorporated into the Kingdom of Castile in 1729, the House of Medina retains ownership of the castle is closed and abandoned in 1868 until its restoration, by the 40s of XX century. The circumstances of the construction of this church-fortress were reflected in the Cantigas of Alfonso X, and much later, in 1823, their status is thoroughly described in the work of Fernan Caballero "A liberalito bootlicker and a" novel that is set in this old castle-sanctuary.

El Puerto de Santa María is a Spanish city located in the province of Cádiz, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. The town belongs, with Cadiz, Jerez de la Frontera, San Fernando (Cádiz), Chiclana, Puerto Real and Rota, the Association of Municipalities of the Bay of Cadiz. Also part of the metropolitan area of ​​the Bay of Cadiz, Jerez, polynuclear urban agglomeration which is part near Cadiz, Jerez de la Frontera, San Fernando, Chiclana and Puerto Real, being the third largest metropolitan area in Andalusia , behind Sevilla and Malaga, and the twelfth of Spain.

In 711 Muslims faced the Visigothic army at the Battle of Guadalete, which meant the entry of Arabs in the peninsula. From that time, the city became part of the Muslim territory with the new name would love Alcanter, Alcanate or Alcanatif, some researchers translate as Puerto de las Salinas, Arch or Bridge. By then it was just a neighboring farm dependent Seris, the current Jerez de la Frontera.

"A Alfonso X El Sabio (1221 - 1284) made of El Puerto de Santa María independent council by letter granting puebla founding in 1281 and dedicated to the image that remains within the sanctuary of strength 24 The songbook ballads known as St. Mary of Porto "
In 1260, Alfonso X the Wise conquered the city from the Muslims and renamed Arab Alcanatif the Santa María del Puerto. This argument is the text of the Cantiga de Santa Maria # 328, part of the Song of Santa María del Puerto. This monarch organized the distribution of land and granted the Town Charter, becoming part since the Crown of Castile, as a territory of the Kingdom of Seville. In 1279 Alfonso X granted the Order of St. Mary of Spain the lordship of El Puerto de Santa María, although the order vanished in 1280. Sancho IV sold it in 1284 to Benedetto Zaccaria, Guzmán el Bueno who bought half in 1295 or 1299, depending on the source. In 1306 the half was provided as dowry by Leonor de Guzman, Guzman el Bueno granddaughter, her marriage to Luis de la Cerda. In 1357 the entire town was unified under the same manor and in 1369 Bernardo de Foix, husband of Isabel de la Cerda, received Medinaceli County, home of the noble house of the same name. In 1479 his descendants received the title of Counts of El Puerto de Santa María.

Christopher Columbus, between 1483 and 1486 (although some researchers point to the period 1490-1491), was the guest of Mr. El Puerto and received contributions for the journey that would lead him to the discovery of the New World. Columbus was also at the Port in 1493, setting the second trip. Here pertrechó the Santa Maria, owned marine Juan de la Cosa, who was pilot of Columbus in 1492, and in 1500, in El Puerto de Santa Maria, date the first map that includes America.
Speaking of the Discovery of America talk about an event that encompasses many aspects. First, the scientific fact which confirms the theory of the Earth as a sphere, on the other hand, the change from then happens in the world political and economic order. And finally, the meeting of worlds, new to each other, which until then had not had contact, or at least in a very evident. These three aspects are most visible in the cities that were directly involved in this event, as in the case of El Puerto de Santa María.
The port becomes the seat of the Captaincy General of the Ocean Sea meant being constantly abreast of international political becomings, which all historical events were noted in a very direct way in the evolution of the city.
His condition mercantilist configured as the residence of merchants (Chargers to the Indies), that, in constructing their luxurious homes, formed a monumental Houses dotted with palaces and various civic and religious buildings, of which we can still enjoy most.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the port is based emissions and the royal fleet and seat of the Captaincy General of the Ocean Sea, as already discussed. This would determine its role in the preparation of major naval military expeditions. It is of interest to visit the Plaza of the royal fleet, the heart of the life of the City in the past and now tourism.

Proclaimed King Felipe V, the city asks joining Crown, what happens on May 31, 1729, when the Court moves to spend the summer here this year and next. The character becomes fashionable summer in the city when, in 1729 and 1730, Felipe V, the first of the Bourbons, the official residence summer singles.
The Age of Enlightenment, with significant commercial activity and a large number of magnates illustrated settled in the city, would give way in the early nineteenth century to a city turned into the headquarters of the French army during the War of Independence, under the reign of Joseph Bonaparte (1810-1812).
During the reign of Fernando VII (1814-1833), in the liberal period of three years (1820-1823), the port is busy again as headquarters and taken by troops of the Holy Alliance, known by the French army Hundred Sons of San Luis, under the Duke of Angouleme, in order to end the resistance in Cadiz liberal refugee and deliver to King Ferdinand VII. Freed the king, he landed at the port and repeals the 1812 Constitution, thereby imposing absolute power of the crown.

From this moment, the vicissitudes of history, successive confiscations religious and civil, social and political changes of the moment, and the development of the winemaking industry, causing the expansion of the local economy and urban space, marking life and the people of this city.
Source Wikipedia.
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3100
Software: PhotoScape
Exposure Time: 10/6400 sec
F-Stop: f/7.1
ISO Speed Ratings: 400
Focal Length: 18 mm
Date Taken: 2011-09-29 11:50
Metering Mode: Center Weighted Average
File Size: 278 kb