Zamora Castles
Castle of Alba de Aliste
Located on the margins of the river Aliste, in ruins.
In the 12th century it belonged to the Knights Templar. Don Álvaro
de Luna owned it in the 15th century.
It became the capital of the county of Alba y Aliste under Enrique
IV.
Castle of Puebla de Sanabria
The castle has a barrier with large towers and barrel vaulted
rooms and a peculiar yard at the entrance with a second corner
door covered with loopholes.
The structure has a regular, square ground floor. The multi-storey
Tower of Homage, commonly known as "Macho", is protected
by a drawbridge. The castle is surrounded by a wall protected
by semi-cylindrical cubes. On the eastern flank there are many
windows and a large balcony. The only piece of ornamentation is
a coat of arms on a ledge.
The coats of arms may be attributed to Rodrigo Pimentel and his
wife María Pacheco.
It has been recently restored to house the Municipal Library and
a centre for cultural activities.
It was built in the 15th century as a castle-palace by the fourth
Count of Benavente, Don Rodrigo Alonso Pimentel,a member of the
powerful Castilian nobility and the owner of many castles.
It was recently restored and turned into a Municipal Library and
Cultural House.
Castle of Villalonso
The castle consisted of two enclosures and a wide moat still visible
although mostly covered up.
The outside enclosure has not been preserved. The interior one
has been partially preserves. It is square and has cubes in the
corners and a Tower of Homage, also square, in the centre of one
of the sides, topped with a beautiful running crenellation.
The access gate contains the coat of arms of the Ulloa family.
In the Middle Ages Villalonso was a town shared by several lords,
such as the Benavides family. One of the most illustrious lord
was the Order of Calatrava.
A typical and notable example of 15th-century architecture. Its
construction may be attributed to Juan de ulloa and his wife María
de Sarmiento, whose coats of arms can be seen above the entrance
gate.
It played an important role during the siege of the queen Isabel
the Catholic on Toro during her war against Juan "La Beltraneja"
and during the comunero rebelion against Carlos V.
Castle and Walls of Zamora
The castle has a trapezoid ground floor and a polygonal tower.
The fortress has six turrets and stands on a rock with a barbican.
The Postigo de la Traición (Treason Gate): Bellido Dolfos
CAME in through this gate as he was been chased by El Cid after
assassinating the king Don Sancho.
Zamora was the general headquarters of the frontier in the 18th
century, sue to its walls and the medieval castle, whose interior
was reformed.
In 1766 Juan Martín Cermeño proposes some fortification
works that included, besides the crenellated front on the flat
side of the town, a brand new fortress on the heights of Santa
Susana, from where it would be possible to dominate the town with
the artillery.
Around 893, Alfonso II took and fortified the town with the aid
of the Mozarabic population. However, Almanzor took the town in
the late 10th century.
The famous Bishop's Gate was built in 1230.
Zamora fought during the Succession war, in the late 15th century,
in favour of Portugal.
After a siege of several months, the Castilian troops surrendered
in 1476..
The Alcázar of Toro
After the división of León and Castile in the mid
12th century, Toro remained in the kingdom of León.
In 1199 Alfonso 9th married Doña Berenguela. Between 1188
and 1195 he started the construction of the castle and the walls.
Sancho IV donated Toro its fortress to his wife, María
de Molina, in 1283. She rebuilt the old castle giving it the present
structure.
In 1428 it was used as a prison. Part of the entourage of the
Dolphins of France was kept captive in its cells.
In the mid 19th century the castle was in ruins, having been used
mostly to store gunpowder.
The castle was later on refurbished.
Torre del Caracol
Owned by the General Secretariat for Tourism. Totally restore,
presently used as a Parador Nacional de Turismo.
The tower was built in 1501.
These are the only remains of the Castillo de la Mota in Benavente.
The coats of arms on the outside of the tower and on the scallops
of the vaults represent the weapons of the Pimente family, which
also appear in the Hospital of Benavente and in the courtyard
of the palace of the Counts of Valladolid.
The tower survived the fire of the early 19th century and was
restored in 1953.
The Mudejar coffering of the tower came from the church of San
Román del Valle.
All that remains of the once immense and luxurious castle-palace,
erected by Juan Alonso de Pimentel, the Count of Benavente, when
the king Enrique III gave him the village and the old castle,
is a beautiful and original tower built in the early 16th century
by the fifth Count, which has bee restored and incorporated to
other modern structures in what is today the Parador Nacional
de Turismo.
Zamora guide