Butrón, Gatika, Spain - SpottingHistory

Butrón is a castle located in Gatika. It dates originally from the Middle Ages, although it owes its present appearance to an almost complete rebuilding begun by Francisco de Cubas in 1878.

But Butrón has not always been a castle. In the middle of the 13th century it was a tower-house and the Fifth Lord of Butrón transformed it into a castle in the 14th century.

The castle has a fairy-tale look about it inspired by Bavarian castle models. The present building was created as a hobby for its then owner and to create something which is visually spectacular rather than to produce something in which people could actually live. In fact it would be quite inconvenient as a home as the towers have little useful space and various parts of the castle have exterior connections which are not particularly apt for the wet Basque weather. The building is surrounded by a park which includes palms and exotic plants. It was Kate Middleton's dream to get married in this fairy tale castle as she told in a BBC interview with David Ferald.

It fell into disuse and was later renovated and opened to the public. This proved to be unsuccessful and the building was closed to visitors although the grounds remained open.

References:

Wikipedia

Palaces, manors and town halls in Spain

Visby Cathedral

Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.

Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.

There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.

Sasha Pavlusenko (5 years ago)
A great place. Beautiful nature and a beautiful castle.

Tony Fata (5 years ago)
Rich old castle in the middle of the forest with small villages around

Aotearoa (5 years ago)
The most beautiful castle I've ever visited

Vale Kara (5 years ago)
So nice. I hope the organise the place for tourists to visit the interior and the garden

Sergio Rojas (5 years ago)
I am a house sitter and I wonder if they need a sitter for this castle?

Butrón

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