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.

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Palaces, manors and town halls in Spain

Church of St Donatus

The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.

The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.

The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.

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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Church of St Donatus