When we visited the Costa Blanca it is quite a struggle to find historical sites amongst the modern tourist developments but Altamera Castle, in Elche, is worth a visit. Elche is one of those sites having a long history with visible remains and a fantastic museum and is only 20 minutes from the coast.
Visiting Altamera Castle
Elche is a lovely town to visit and the tourist areas are well signposted. There is plenty of parking in the centre and the castle interior is accessed via the MAHE museum. This is a superb museum and well worth a visit and details of that plus other local sites are on my blog here. Before going in to view the castle interior it is worth doing a circuit of the walls and if you’re up to it, pay €2 to climb the 170 steps of the bell tower of the Santa Maria church just opposite as that gives a great overview of the castle layout.
My Experience
The castle is built around an 11th century Arab core and has the square towers typical of early medieval fortifications. Rather than being in the centre the town with walls the surrounding it the castle itself was originally part of the walls. Altamera Castle was remodelled in the sixteenth century and slowly migrated from a fortress to a palace then prison and even a factory!
The castle had the original Arabic gateway and gun ports in the wall so that covers about 500 years in one building. There is a small courtyard and then one main square tower with a smaller round tower on each corner. We walked along the walls and also saw a carved Christian cross, along with lots of other visitors. As it was a Sunday, entrance was free and there were plenty of kids activities too so it was great to see people getting involved.
Outside Altamera Castle there are the remains of the city walls and other buildings and, if you visit the MAHE museum, there are photos of the castle and its environs pre-restoration. I crossed the main road to the Basilica de Santa Maria and climbed the stirs of the bell tower. The final part was quite tight but otherwise it was an easy climb and the views over the castle and town were impressive.
Altamera Castle Photo Gallery
History
The older people of Elche remember when it still served as a textile factory and even intermittently, as a prison. The dramatic process of renovation experienced by the Palace of Altamira, or Alcazar de la Señoría,makes it one of the best preserved strongholds in the province of Alicante, and at the same time an essential monumental point of reference of vital importance for the city.
Residence of the noblemen of Elche between the XV and the XIX centuries, its Torre del Homenaje or Keep also housed the Kings Jaime II and Pedro IV and the Catholic Monarchs during their stays in the city and hosted the meetings of the General Council of the City up to the XV century.
Factory and Prison
In the construction process of the Palace of Altamira several important stages stand out. The first corresponds to the Islamic period between the XI and XIII centuries. In the present day some stretches of the City Wall from this time may be seen, along with remnants of dwellings and drainage channels, which are not visible, as well as a monumental entrance gate and the Keep, of which only the ground floor belongs to this period.
The second phase, between the XV and XVI centuries, occurred after Gutierre de Cárdenas took possession of the lordship. This rebuilding work, defined by its decisive and extensive nature, shaped the general lines of the current form of the Palace. Subsequently, in the XVIII century, the Count of Altamira added a manor house of two floors to the original wall, which currently constitutes its south-facing facade.
It is polygonal in shape, with angles defined by projecting circular hubs, except in the area occupied by the Keep, which has a square base and three floors. Its rooms and the outbuildings of the western wing intermittently housed a prison from the XVIII century until 1959.
In 1915, the building was acquired by a local industrialist who built a textile factory in the Patio de Armas or parade ground, adjoined to the east wall, which was in operation until the end of the 1960s, at the same time as the prison. Nowadays this same parade ground is sometimes made use of as a perfect arena for social and cultural events.
Restoration
After being expropriated by the City Council in the 1970s in the last century, restoration of the building was carried out, including the outbuildings of the former factory, which, once refurbished, went on to house the Alejandro Ramos Folqués Municipal Archaeological Museum. In 2005, after further restoration, which brought to light remnants of the original stronghold, including an upper entrance gate from the banks of the river, whose existence was previously unknown, the palace came to form part of the new Archaeological and History Museum of Elche (MAHE). This centre was inaugurated in 2006 in conjunction with the return, for a period of six months only, of the Lady Elche, who was housed on the ground floor of the Torre del Homenaje or Keep, where an exact copy of the Iberian bust is currently displayed, ceded by the Provincial Archaeological Museum (MARQ).
References
The history above is copied from the Elche tourist site here.
Castles.nl has a nice entry on the castle here.
There is information on opening times and entry costs on the Costa Blanca site here.