Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;es;Mon01;6;ar
Library Location
Badajos (Badajos, Arabic sources), Spain
Notes
The city of Badajos (Badajos Historical Heritage Books), according to Arab sources, was founded in the last third of the 3rd / 10th century, by the commander of Mérida (Mérida), Abd al-Rahman ibn Marwan al-Jaliqi (261 - 275 / 875 - 889), who belonged to the family lineage of the Mulids (followers of Christians who converted to Islam) who rose up against Cordoba and took refuge in Badajos after They were forced to leave Merida. After that, when the city became part of the Almohad Empire, Mérida, thanks to its strategic location, became an essential site in the defensive structure towards the Christian kingdoms of Portugal and Leon. The current Kasbah of Badajos was built during the reign of Abu Yaqub Yusuf (r. 558-580 / 1163-1184), in the same period in which work began on most of the major Almohad buildings in the Iberian Peninsula, such as the restoration of the walls of Seville. Its expansion, its great mosque, and a whole host of public achievements. The Kasbah of Badajos, built in AH 565 / AD 1170 on a high hill, forms a belt of oval walls, surrounded on the north and east sides by impenetrable walls thanks to the natural moats of the Guadiana River and the small stream of Rivias. Due to the lack of natural defenses on the other two slopes, the greatest number of artificial defenses such as barchans and supporting towers were gathered. The main access to the walls is through the “Bab al-Taj”, which took its name from the Roman capital made of marble that was integrated into the upper part. This door is a wraparound entrance surmounted by a horseshoe arch, slightly broken, and is defended by a tower. The interior contains two Gothic elements that were transformed into two hollow parts for the door leaves. The Espantaperos Tower, connected to the walls by a long wall, constitutes the most important and largest supporting tower within the fortifications. It was designed in an octagonal shape and built with mortar. Above the huge lower part rise two similar floors, consisting of a square-shaped central hall covered with a vault and surrounded by a hallway divided into bays. The tower was originally covered by a terraced roof, above which stood a second, square-cornered structure, of which some solid arches remain. In the 10th / 16th century, a small Domestic brick tower was constructed surrounding this second structure in order to house a bell - now dismantled - whose sound seems to have given the tower its popular name, “Tower of Espantaperos”, which means tower of terrifying dogs. The defensive ensemble of Badajos is testimony to the way in which it was developed. The Almohads, who were in perpetual holy war, developed the art of military fortification. They improved the style of wraparound doors, which made it difficult to enter the walls. They generalized the use of the barbakhan or the advanced wall that surrounded the walls and the reeds, and spread the system of supporting towers outside the belt of walls connected to it by a wall.
Sample Text
Margarita Sánchez Llorente “Castle (Castle) of Badajos and Tower of Espantaperos” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;es;Mon01;6;ar
