CASTLE OF THE WATCHTOWER: Built by the Arabs around the 11th century, it was declared a “Historic Artistic Monument” in 1931. It consists of two pitless fences crossed by round cubes, with the addition on the outside of a polygonal enclosure with four fronts, reinforced with cubes the vertices. The keep is square. erected with three-meter-thick walls, it consists of four bodies: the first two are made of Almohad mud, and the two upper ones are made of masonry, the latter being built in the mid-15th century by D. Juan Pacheco, second Marquis of Villena. The roofs of the first two rooms are made up of Almohad vaults with intersecting arches, of exceptional importance because, like those of the neighboring Biar castle, they are the oldest of their style in Spain. In the crowning stand out some small towers flown in the Portuguese-Castilian style. The Atalaya Castle, which until the 15th century coexisted with the oldest in Salvatierra, was the scene of various struggles, both during the time of Carlos I, during the uprising of the Valencian “agermanados”, and during the war of Succession that enthroned the Bourbons, or, already in the 19th century, during the war of independence against the French, who blew up the two magnificent Almohad vaults mentioned above.
Location: Cerro del Castillo.
Contact: Tel 965803893. Email: crv.villena@gmail.com
Hours: Closed for restoration works until 07/13/2013. Once opened, it will have the same hours as the Visitor Center where the information about the Fortress is.
Admission: Admission € 3 (includes guided tour). Discounts: 25%: Children from 7 to 14 years old and people over 65 years old. 20%: groups (+15 pax), people with disabilities, i-más business card holders and unemployed with accreditation. 50%: Travel Agencies, tour operators and any other tourist brokerage company. 15%: Visiting three or more paid tourist spaces (discount cumulative to the previous ones).
