ESPAGNE - CACERES - Palacio de los Golfines de Abajo (103)
CACERES
Cáceres is a city in the western Spanish region of Extremadura. It retains multiple traces of its occupation by many different cultures that followed one another. Its old town, Ciudad Monumental, mixes Gothic and Renaissance architecture, with cobbled medieval streets, fortified houses and palaces, which is why many television shows and films have been shot there.
This old town of Cáceres was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986, as one of the best preserved examples of urban centres dating from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in the world.
It is part of the Vía de la Plata ("Silver Route") path of the Camino de Santiago that crosses the west of the Iberian Peninsula in a north–south direction.
Cáceres as a city was founded as Castra Caecilia by a Roman politician and military and started to gain importance as a strategic city under Roman occupation.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city was occupied by the Visigoths, and entered a period of decline until the Arabs conquered Cáceres in the 8th century. The city spent the next few centuries mostly under Arab rule, although power alternated several times between Moors and Christians. During this time, the Arabs rebuilt the city, including a wall, palaces, and various towers, including the Torre de Bujaco. King Alfonso IX of León took the city after several years of siege, on April 23, 1229, the day of San Jorge (Saint George), which since then has been celebrated in the city as its patron saint.
From this moment Cáceres began to transform, building churches within mosques and Christian palaces on top of the primitive Muslim palaces, thanks to the fortunes made by the conquistadors in America. They are the ones who have contributed the most to the powerful and grandiose character of the city. Despite some alterations until the 18th century, it is the one that has been preserved until today.
(Source: Wikipédia)
Palacio de los Golfines de Abajo
The Palacio de los Golfines de Abajo is one of the most representative buildings of the walled enclosure of Cáceres.
Since its restoration and opening to the public in September 2015 it has become one of the points of reference of the cultural life of Extremadura.
It was owned by the Golfines from the 15th century up until the recent death of the last descendant of this lineage, Tatiana Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno y Seebacher, VIII Countess of Torre Arias and a Spanish Grandee, Marchioness of Santa Marta, and Marchioness of La Torre de Esteban Hambrán, the first president of the Foundation which bears her name.
It was during the reign of Henry IV of Spain when the first stage of building was initiated with the erecting of a house-cum-fort, which was highly characteristic of the Cáceres of the 15th century as defence from the attacks of other nobles was necessary. This stage can today be identified by the machicolations which defend the sides of its tower.
The remainder of the façade corresponds to the second stage of building (15th century – early 16th century).
The Palacio de los Golfines de Abajo combines Gothic, Renaissance, and plateresque styles.
Subsequently it was gradually expanded as is usual with this type of construction.
Its lower part includes the doorway of access to the palace with its semicircular arch flanked by the coats of arms of the two families who financed the work.
Over the doorway, at the highest part there is a mullioned window with Gothic tracery and a marble mullion with an Ionic capital. Furthermore, over the window can be seen the coat of arms of the Catholic Monarchs crowned by a cross to indicate that this palace lodged their royal highnesses on two occasions in 1477 and 1479.
On the left of the façade a tower bears the family coat of arms, a helmet beneath a hand brandishing a sword; the whole is flanked by adornments and worked plumes. Below can be seen a second inscription within a frame which reads: THIS IS THE HOUSE OF THE GOLFINES to indicate the ownership of the palace. In the upper area two medallions show the busts of two celebrities of antiquity, Trajan and Judas Macabeus, who were considered to symbolise justice and strength.
The facade is crowned by a cresting of granite consisting of figures of griffons among burning candelabras, winged beings with feathered bodies, feet transformed into plants, tails of snakes, and heads with jaws open in aggressive poses.
ESPAGNE - CACERES - Palacio de los Golfines de Abajo (103)
CACERES
Cáceres is a city in the western Spanish region of Extremadura. It retains multiple traces of its occupation by many different cultures that followed one another. Its old town, Ciudad Monumental, mixes Gothic and Renaissance architecture, with cobbled medieval streets, fortified houses and palaces, which is why many television shows and films have been shot there.
This old town of Cáceres was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986, as one of the best preserved examples of urban centres dating from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in the world.
It is part of the Vía de la Plata ("Silver Route") path of the Camino de Santiago that crosses the west of the Iberian Peninsula in a north–south direction.
Cáceres as a city was founded as Castra Caecilia by a Roman politician and military and started to gain importance as a strategic city under Roman occupation.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city was occupied by the Visigoths, and entered a period of decline until the Arabs conquered Cáceres in the 8th century. The city spent the next few centuries mostly under Arab rule, although power alternated several times between Moors and Christians. During this time, the Arabs rebuilt the city, including a wall, palaces, and various towers, including the Torre de Bujaco. King Alfonso IX of León took the city after several years of siege, on April 23, 1229, the day of San Jorge (Saint George), which since then has been celebrated in the city as its patron saint.
From this moment Cáceres began to transform, building churches within mosques and Christian palaces on top of the primitive Muslim palaces, thanks to the fortunes made by the conquistadors in America. They are the ones who have contributed the most to the powerful and grandiose character of the city. Despite some alterations until the 18th century, it is the one that has been preserved until today.
(Source: Wikipédia)
Palacio de los Golfines de Abajo
The Palacio de los Golfines de Abajo is one of the most representative buildings of the walled enclosure of Cáceres.
Since its restoration and opening to the public in September 2015 it has become one of the points of reference of the cultural life of Extremadura.
It was owned by the Golfines from the 15th century up until the recent death of the last descendant of this lineage, Tatiana Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno y Seebacher, VIII Countess of Torre Arias and a Spanish Grandee, Marchioness of Santa Marta, and Marchioness of La Torre de Esteban Hambrán, the first president of the Foundation which bears her name.
It was during the reign of Henry IV of Spain when the first stage of building was initiated with the erecting of a house-cum-fort, which was highly characteristic of the Cáceres of the 15th century as defence from the attacks of other nobles was necessary. This stage can today be identified by the machicolations which defend the sides of its tower.
The remainder of the façade corresponds to the second stage of building (15th century – early 16th century).
The Palacio de los Golfines de Abajo combines Gothic, Renaissance, and plateresque styles.
Subsequently it was gradually expanded as is usual with this type of construction.
Its lower part includes the doorway of access to the palace with its semicircular arch flanked by the coats of arms of the two families who financed the work.
Over the doorway, at the highest part there is a mullioned window with Gothic tracery and a marble mullion with an Ionic capital. Furthermore, over the window can be seen the coat of arms of the Catholic Monarchs crowned by a cross to indicate that this palace lodged their royal highnesses on two occasions in 1477 and 1479.
On the left of the façade a tower bears the family coat of arms, a helmet beneath a hand brandishing a sword; the whole is flanked by adornments and worked plumes. Below can be seen a second inscription within a frame which reads: THIS IS THE HOUSE OF THE GOLFINES to indicate the ownership of the palace. In the upper area two medallions show the busts of two celebrities of antiquity, Trajan and Judas Macabeus, who were considered to symbolise justice and strength.
The facade is crowned by a cresting of granite consisting of figures of griffons among burning candelabras, winged beings with feathered bodies, feet transformed into plants, tails of snakes, and heads with jaws open in aggressive poses.