Santa Olalla del Cala Castle, Santa Olalla del Cala, Spain

Santa Olalla del Cala Castle stands on a prominent rocky ridge above the village. The fortress, although the ramparts are reminiscent of Moorish castles, was built by the Christian king of Castile, Sancho IV in the thirteenth century replacing a much smaller fortress which had been built earlier by the Muslim rulers of Andalucía. The Muslim structure is thought to have been built on top a much early Roman fortification. The castle was part of a defence system built to protect the city of Seville from the Portuguese. This defence system was called the Banda Gallega or The Galician Band. The system composed of three lines of defence, which mostly utilized older Moorish fortresses. The first line contained the castles of Aroche, Encinasola and Fregenal de la Sierra. In the second line was the Torre of San Bartolomé and Cortegana castle. The third line included Santa Olalla del Cala and the fortress at Aracena.

Construction

The castle is constructed from stone masonry and brickwork. The curtain walls have ten towers in total. Four of the towers are circular and the other six are rectangular in shape. The towers are constructed of solid stone and rise to the height of the parapet at which there is a vaulted chamber. This is topped by battlements of which some have pyramidal and brick cube castellation. The inner precinct is of an irregular coffin shape and follows the plan of the ridge top of the hill. On the North West elevation there is an entrance tower which is turned 90° to the main curtain wall of the fortress.

Later years

Following the castle’s decline as a fortress other uses were found for the stronghold. In the 19th century and into the 20th century the castle precinct and curtain walls were used as the municipal cemetery. The walls were pierced to form burial niches. This had a detrimental effect on the castle, considerably weakening the structure. In 1949 the castle was declared a site of cultural interest and measures were taken to preserve the site.

References:

Wikipedia

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.

DaBoss Robert (9 months ago)
Beautiful place and area of spain.

Joann Barnes (3 years ago)
Very quaint and picturesque village. While walking up to the castle there was a surreal peaceful silence.

Simon Saxophone (4 years ago)
It was closed but actually from the photos not much to see inside.

Fifi CH (6 years ago)
Looked beautiful in the distance....had good lunch in town, castle was closed probably because it was Christmas holidays.

ayman khan (7 years ago)
Did not spend much time here but there is a camp spot near by for camper vans with benches and fire pits ... Good place to camp for the night

Santa Olalla del Cala Castle

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