Cultural sites of interest / Lugares culturales de interés
|
Calatrava Knight's Castle / Castillo de la orden de Calatrava
The Castle was built in the XIII Century as a major fortress to keep the road between Toledo and Cordoba secure and to keep the Arabs in the South of Spain. Once was occupied by Templar Knights but after proving difficult to kept safe the fortress was given to monks who previously were knights. It is for this reason that the castle has the structure of a grand convent, including a Cistercian style church, a cloister and some other dependencies. It remained active until the XIX century when the order moved to the neighbour city of Almagro. |
|
The villa of Almodóvar del Campo
From Roman times, this town was strategically situated in the middle of one of the path connecting the Norht with the South of Spain. It has the rest of the Moorish Casttle and in the XVI Century it was the administrative and financial capital of the Alcudia Valley and the Calatrava Order. The main church has one of the two remained Moorish wooden whole carved ceiling in Spain. Saint John of Avila, recently appointed a Doctor of the Church was bornt here. There is a small museum dedicated to his life. Another interesting site to visit is the Museum for one of the most famous modern painters from La Mancha, Mr Alfredo Palmero, pupil of Mr Julio Romero de Torres and an accomplished artist of the region. |
|
SISAPO Roman´s ruins / Ruinas romanas de SISAPO
Sisapo was one of the most important mining cities in the Roman Empire (circa II b.c) well known for the administration and trade of Cinnabar and silver from the Sierra Morena area. Sisapo was also connected through the roman road circuit with other important mining sites, as Almaden and with the main commercial roads in the peninsula. Although today the site does not show fully all the remains, it is possible to appreciate the arrange of the old roman city. There is visible the columns of a main building and the old laid out of the village. At one point the city was protected by a wall and many towers. |