Alcázar of Jerez de la Frontera

The {{lang|es|alcázar}} is made up of a grossly quadrangular line of walls, with a perimeter of approximately {{convert|4000|m|sp=us}}. The Octagonal Tower was constructed in the Almohad style, while the Palace of Villavicencio, which built in 1664, was done in Baroque style.

Within the {{lang|es|alcázar}} is a mosque, the only remaining of the 18 once present in the city. After the Christian conquest of the fortress in 1261, it was put under the command of Nuño González de Lara. Later, it was turned into a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary by King Alfonso X of Castile. The minaret, still extant, was turned into a bell tower. The prayer hall, preceded by a small room of ritual ablutions, features a mihrab, indicating the direction of Mecca, and a rib vault with a circular window at the top.

• the Palace of the Patio de Doña Blanca, dating to the 12th-century Islamic structure, originally a leisure pavilion
• the bathhouse (hammam), they include an entrance area for undressing, leading to the cold and warm rooms, the latter being the largest in the complex. The final room is the hot room, whose heating system is still partially visible.

The defenses of the complex consisted of a double-walled design wherein a 4-meter-high battlement-topped outer wall was located 4 meters from the inner wall.{{Cite journal |last=Vallejo Triano |first=Antonio |date=1985 |title=Campaña de excavación en el alcázar de Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz) |journal=Cuadernos de Estudios Medievales |volume=14 |pages=7–31}} That inner wall featured towers located at regular intervals; of the original towers, only 7 remain. These were mostly built using rammed earth and brick, though there are portions that utilize stone spolia from nearby sites.{{Cite book |title=El Alcázar de Jerez |last=Aguilar Moya |first=Laureano |publisher=Servicio de Publicaciones del Ayuntamiento de Jerez |year=1999 |isbn=84-87194-42-7 |location=Jerez de la Frontera |pages=17}} The towers themselves are Albarrana Towers and attached to the wall through a short arcade rather than being built into the wall.

The castle-fortress itself served as an autonomous fortified city situated within a larger fortified city. This arrangement was a commonplace feature of Almohad building practices.{{Cite journal |last=Castiñeira Sánchez |first=J |date=Winter–Spring 2006 |title=Excursión a la Torre de Doña Blanca, al Alcázar de Jerez y al Puente de Alcantarilla |journal=Asociación de Profesores para la Difusión y Protección del Patrimonio Histórico |volume=14 |pages=36–37}} As such, all the essentials of both military defense and everyday civilian life were contained within its walls. These included not only living quarters, baths, and mosques but also supply warehouses and water tanks.{{Cite journal |last=Menendez Pidal |first=Jose |date=1973 |title=La Mezquita-Iglesia de Santa Maria La Real (Alcazar de Jerez) |journal=Bellas Artes |volume=19 |pages=8–9}} The building of a complex of such scale was both due to the Almohad aptitude for refining the construction process to a degree comparable with that of the Romans, and to their diminished use of decorative elements as compared to previous eras.{{Cite book |title=Islamic Palace Architecture in the Western Mediterranean – A History |last=Arnold |first=Felix |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-19-062455-2 |location=United States |pages=196, 213}}

File:Mezquita, Alcázar, Jerez de la Frontera, España, 2015-12-07, DD 57.JPG|Mosque entrance

File:Mezquita, Alcázar, Jerez de la Frontera, España, 2015-12-07, DD 58.JPG|Interior view of mosque

File:Mezquita del Alcázar de Jerez (33175653405).jpg|Mihrab detail

File:Jerez de la Frontera - 011 (30619959021).jpg|Courtyard outside mosque

File:Muro del Alcázar, Jerez de la Frontera, España, 2015-12-07, DD 72.JPG|Superior view of the wall

File:Muro del Alcázar, Jerez de la Frontera, España, 2015-12-07, DD 55.JPG|Interior view of the wall

File:Muro del Alcázar, Jerez de la Frontera, España, 2015-12-07, DD 62.JPG|Watchtower

File:AlcazarJerez.JPG|Gardens and Octagonal Tower

File:Baños moros, Alcázar, Jerez de la Frontera, España, 2015-12-07, DD 73.jpg|Exterior view of the baths

File:Baños moros, Alcázar, Jerez de la Frontera, España, 2015-12-07, DD 82-84 HDR.jpg|Interior of the baths, vaulting detail

File:Palacio de Villavicencio, Alcázar, Jerez de la Frontera, España, 2015-12-07, DD 63.JPG|Palacio de Villavicencio

File:Antigua farmacia municipal, Alcázar, Jerez de la Frontera, España, 2015-12-07, DD 85-87 HDR.JPG|Former municipal pharmacy, Palace of Villavicencio

File:Alcázar de Jerez (32793243220).jpg|Informational plaque

• List of Bienes de Interés Cultural in the Province of Cádiz

{{Reflist}}

• {{commons category-inline|Alcázar de Jerez de la Frontera}}
• Torres Balbas, Leopoldo (1981). Cronica de la España Musulmana. 1–4. Spain: Instituto de España. {{ISBN|84-85559-15-0}}.
• Bennison, Amira (2016). The Almoravid and Almohad Empires. United States: Edinburgh University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-7486-4680-7}}.

{{Mosques in Spain}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alcazar of Jerez de la Frontera}}

Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 12th century

Jerez

Category:Former mosques in Spain

Category:Buildings and structures in Jerez de la Frontera

Category:Octagonal buildings

Category:Tourist attractions in Andalusia

Category:Castles in Andalusia

Category:Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Province of Cádiz