Cáceres

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=3 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="196dcde1ddualp.gif"> <div> Cáceres   <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#CCCC99" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="default.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Borgans Heavenly Home Page"><U>home</U></A></FONT></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=160 BGCOLOR="#333333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="196dedc2ddualp.gif"> <div> <B>Cáceres</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id256.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="D. José María Saponi Mendo"><U>D. José María Saponi Mendo</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id250.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cáceres World Heritage "><U>Cáceres World Heritage </U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id248.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cáceres Medieval Castle"><U>Cáceres Medieval Castle</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id313.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Virtual photos of Cáceres"><U>Virtual photos of Cáceres</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id314.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Virtual San Jorge"><U>Virtual San Jorge</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id251.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tour Medieval City"><U>Tour Medieval City</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id262.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Museum of Cáceres"><U>Museum of Cáceres</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id257.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cáceres Route"><U>Cáceres Route</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id311.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Caceres Parador Hotel"><U>Caceres Parador Hotel</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id312.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Knights of Santiago"><U>Knights of Santiago</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id264.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cáceres Chamber of Commerce"><U>Cáceres Chamber of Commerce</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="default.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Borgans Heavenly Home Page"><U>Home Page</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=396 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="19764643.gif"> <div> <I>Because of its authentic medieval character, over 100 motion pictures have been filmed</I></div> <div> <I> on location inside this historic monumental castle city.</I></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="568" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 571 WIDTH="381"><div> <I><B><IMG SRC="23d90250.gif" border=0 width="400" height="293" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>THE OLD CITY OF CACERES</B></I></div> <bR> <div> Caceres, capital of the northern province of Extremadura, is located in an area which for centuries and millenniums has seen different peoples and cultures from pre-historic times. In the Maltravieso Cave, paintings have been found belonging to the Palaeolithic era, over 20,000 years old. </div> <bR> <div> Two periods in it development have left their mark on today's monumental city: the Arab stronghold before it fell to the Christians in 1229, and the feudal city between the 14th and 16th C, when it was filled with palaces and towers of aristocratic families. This urban complex full of its own personality became part of World Heritage in 1986.  </div> <bR> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="34c965f0.gif" border=0 width="150" height="351" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Cavajal Tower</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 675 WIDTH="381"><div> <IMG SRC="23737c80.gif" border=0 width="311" height="456" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Bujaco Tower</B></div> <bR> <div> The Almohade turned Cáceres into a stronghold and added a series of towers to the defensive system. Five rectangular towers still stand on the western side of the curtain walls, among them the famous Bujaco tower (above which was the last tower to be recaptured). In the south, there are two polygonal towers: Redonda and Desmochada; and in the east, the Tower of Los Pozos rises 30m above the ring road and is partly integrated in the battlements.  </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="176"><div> <B>Roman City</B></div> <div> Cáceres, known in Roman times as Norba Caesarina, still maintains some walls built when it was founded in 29 B.C. Also remains of the Roman military outpost camps such as the Castra Caecilia known as Cáceres “El Viejo” can still be found near modern Cáceres.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Arab City</B></div> <div> However, the greatest historical and artistic heritage of Cáceres began in the Middle Ages: with the arrival of the Arab culture and the Almoravid domination, Cáceres was known by the name of <B>Hizn Qazris</B>. The ”Almohade” people rebuilt the city walls and Cáceres regained its strategic importance</div> <bR> <bR> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 317 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="23990250.gif" border=0 width="400" height="293" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Aljibe water cistern</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="176"><div> Inside the city, the most important  Muslim monument is a water storage facility or "aljibe" divided into five parts with Arab horseshoe arches.  the layout of the streets and twisting alleys leading into small squares is the most important legacy of the Almohad period. </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 517 WIDTH="381"><div> <IMG SRC="23a90260.gif" border=0 width="400" height="294" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>San Mateo Church and Stork Tower</B></div> <bR> <div> Medieval life in Cáceres was right out of the pages of a Shakespearean drama like  <I><B>Romeo and Juliet,</B></I> with rival families similar to the <I>Montagues</I> and <I>Capulets</I><I><B> </B></I>fighting each other in the streets from the safety of fortified palaces and towers. Feuds between the private armies of noble families often divided Cáceres in to warring factions.  Examples of this feudal period were towers built not along the city wall to defend against  foreign attackers,  but towers erected inside the city to defend against hostile neighbors. </div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="176"><div> <B>Medieval City</B></div> <bR> <div> In the 14th C. Cáceres was invaded by noble knights of the Order of Santiago, originally call the Order of Cáceres.  Gerardo Sempavor brought in 1166 the temporal liberation of Cáceres which, lost again, was once more conquered this time by Fernando II of  Leon in 1169 and again the "Almohade” people conquered it again until 1229 when Alfonso IX of León conquered it for good. </div> <bR> <div> In only a few dozen years after the final reconquest  many fortress-like houses and towers were erected everywhere inside the city walls.  These feudal palaces were the strongholds of rival noble families -each with their own private army. </div> <bR> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 689 WIDTH="381"><div> <IMG SRC="238902f0.gif" border=0 width="400" height="559" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Bishop's Palace and Santa María Church (Concatedral)</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Churches and convents were also built, such as the Gothic Church of Santa María (above), which has cathedral status,  Santiago, and San Mateo, which was built in the 14th C on the site of a mosque, and the Gothic Convent of San Francisco. </div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="176"><div>  Ferdinand and Isabela, the Catholic Monarchs sought to end feudal in-fighting by ordered the private towers of families disloyal to the crown to be shortened or destroyed and by enlisting the private armies into the king's national army.  Those families loyal to the King were bestowed the privilege of not having their palace's tower torn down. Towers which still stand complete are in the Palace of Los Golfines de Arriba and Las Cigueñas Palace. During the 15th and 16th C, the palaces were replaced by magnificent stone houses which differed from the palaces in size and boasted fewer defensive works. This is the case of Aldana House, El Sol, Ulloa and Carvajal House.</div> <bR> <div> After the discovery of America, the first governor of the New World after Columbus was a noble from Cáceres.  The entrance of Bishop's place is decorated with stone carvings of Indians, whose oriental features assume that they had discovered Asian Indians rather than North American Indians.</div> <bR> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 300 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="23e90260.gif" border=0 width="400" height="294" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="176"><div> In the course of the centuries, the old city of Cáceres has preserved a surprisingly well. This  walled Arab city built on Roman foundations was transformed into a feudal castle with the addition of towers, fortified houses of rival families. Where were then converted into palaces of the nobility. There still remains Arab and Gothic influence, Italian Renaissance, as well as art from America, all of these can be discovered within this unique city of Extremadura.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=34 BGCOLOR="#333333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="196dcde1ddualp.gif"> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="22"><B> </B><A HREF="id256.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="D. 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