vanishedcastle

Discovering Cartagena

More Articles By Phillip Bruce www.raxomnium.com

Vanished Castle

Many places in the Murcia region feature dramatic castles that dominate the town with the example at Mula being particularly impressive. At Cartagena, however, the castle has to be pointed out amidst the confusion of other elements on the skyline.

The reason for this is that the castle suffered badly over the centuries. It appears to have been built re-using significant amounts of stone from the nearby Roman theatre, which had fallen into ruin. The original structure was probably built by the Muslims, who took over the region in the ninth century.

The hill on which it stands was originally very prominent and housed places of worship for Iberians, Carthaginians, Romans and Visigoth Christians before the arrival of Islam. It has been suggested that the old stone lighthouse that can be seen in the grounds of the castle today was constructed by Arab engineers. If so, then it is the only visible remnant of Cartagena’s long centuries under Islam.

In 1245 the Castilians re-conquered Cartagena and they reinforced the castle. A large central tower was added a few decades later. The Christians also used the resources of the nearby theatre. An inscription referring to a Lucio Emilio Recto, presumably a Roman citizen, appeared over the main door.

In medieval times, the castle ridge was protected by an extensive wall which included the suburbs, mostly to the west, where the citizens lived, worked and traded. Much of this area was beneath today’s San Patricio viewpoint next to the castle. At the east, was the citadel itself and the military garrison, protected by its own inner walls.

Later, probably in the 17^th and 18^th century, the castle was rebuilt, it seems as the arrow-head bastions and other defensive elements seem typical of these periods. The key element remained the central tower, known today, for reasons that are unexplained, by the odd names of the “Hommage” or “Macho” tower.

With the massive programme of fortification that appeared in the 18^th century to protect the new naval dockyard, the defensive role of the castle disappeared and, again, the stones were cannibalized and re-used elsewhere. It takes a lot of labour and expense to make a good building block.

Today, the castle, once it has been identified on the skyline looks decidedly odd. The place was in ruins after a siege in 1844. Later the lower parts of the central tower were used for large water storage facilities for the growing city. In 1916 the castle and its surrounding area were developed into a park at the initiative of a prominent local businessman.

Today the castle is well worth visiting and there is an excellent Interpretation Centre which explains Cartagena’s history inside. The video is particularly good. An upper exterior gallery gives extensive views to both seaward and landward and there are explanatory photographs to identify landmarks and free telescopes to peer through. Entry is 3.50 Euros and you will probably come up in the big exterior elevator that starts at street level in Calle Gisbert which costs another Euro. The castle is open from 10am to 2.30pm and 4pm to 7pm, except for Monday, when, like almost all the other sites in Cartagena, it is closed. The lift operates the same hours and is also closed on Mondays.

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