Antiquarium and Archeological Tour of the Archbishop's Palace
In the walled area of the city of Alcalá de Henares
Antiquarium and Archeological Tour of the Archbishop's Palace
It takes place in the walled enclosure of the city of Alcalá de Henares, integrating an archaeological itinerary through the restored elements of nearby Alcalaína. Of this set, the door of tower 14, whose access has been enabled, and the interpretation center, the "Antiquarium" itself, which recovers a space created in the 80s, stand out at the exhibition level.
The exhibition project antiquarium It is the result of a complex operation that has culminated in the opening of an archaeological walk linked to the recovery of the medieval walls of Alcalá de Henares, which is supported by an interpretation center.
The walled enclosure of the Archbishop's Palace encompasses a large area in which residential spaces coexist with others of agricultural, military and fiscal use, which allow us to understand an intense history of more than 800 years during which this place has been a medieval fortress, a palace Renaissance, the General Archive of the Administration, the Museum of Antiquities of Alcalá and, always, a symbolic space of the rich history of Alcalá.
In 1129 Alfonso VII donated the borough of San Yuste or Santiuste to the archbishop of Toledo, while the nearby Andalusian fortification of Qal'at'Abd al-Salam it was gradually becoming obsolete. However, this fortress ended up lending its name to the urban nucleus that was being created in the plain from the aforementioned borough, which from Santiuste was renamed Alcalá.
The formation of the archbishop's fortress of Alcalá began with the construction at the beginning of the 13th century of "archiepiscopal houses" at the initiative of Archbishop Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada.
Over time these constructions were giving shape to a group composed of the fortress and the large open space that constituted the albácar, which allowed the quartering of the troops and the refuge of the civilian population in case of attack, all closed and defined by the walled enclosure.
From this nucleus, the fortification grew and was reinforced by the initiative of successive archbishops. At the end of the XNUMXth century, Pedro Tenorio reformed, or perhaps completely built, the southern canvas of the Palace enclosure “with towers and bastions”. The perimeter of the fortress that was formed at that time largely coincides with the one that is preserved today. With Alonso Carrillo de Acuña, the city was fortified with a new wall, cellar and barbican, expanding it towards the eastern zone. This archbishop developed considerable military and political activity against Isabel I of Castile, and its failure implied the almost total disappearance of the military function of the Alcalaíno walled enclosure.
The following archbishops who intervened in the palace aimed to reconvert the old fortress into a modern urban Renaissance palace. The transformation from castle to palace had as main promoters Alonso de Fonseca and Juan Pardo.
During the nineteenth century the Palace experienced a progressive decline, alleviated by its conversion into General Central Archive of the Kingdom in 1858. In 1939 the building suffered a fire and in the immediate years suffered a severe looting.
Image gallery
Exhibition unit dedicated to the Patio de Columnas de Fonseca
Image, Carlos Mora
Detail of decorated voussoir staircase Covarrubias
Image, Carlos Mora
14 tower, with the stratigraphic reading of its different construction phases
Image, AL Sánchez
Detail of the interior of the 14 tower
Archaeological performance
The exhibition space of antiquarium has taken advantage of the restoration of the south wall of the wall, made in the 80 years, which reinvented the fence creating a narrow gallery inland from the construction of six arches. In this space, the data provided by various excavations and archaeological prospects are presented to the public, as well as elements recovered from the old palace. He antiquarium It is composed of three exhibition units, each one of them located in one of the new arches, and which houses sets around three architectural spaces of the palace complex: Patio de Armas, Ave María and Aleluya Galleries and Patio de Columnas o Fonseca.
The archaeological walk itself includes the walkway between towers 14 and 16, tower 14, the town's intramural gate, towers 15 and 16, tower 1 or Puerta de Burgos, the North, East and South canvases.
In the southern area, the door of tower 14 has been enabled. The interest that arouses your visit lies largely in the fact that it preserves a good part of its original structure from the end of the 14th century, especially its interior, being able to appreciate a construction on a plinth of ashlars, over which brick buttresses and masonry coffered ceilings are used, finally plastering the work. The mechanisms of the door, the pavement, the buharda, even the vault with the original plasters are also preserved. Tower XNUMX was functionally a postern, porthole or minor door, which acted as a passage to access from the villa to the interior of the archbishops' fortress enclosure, later transformed into a palace.
Of the immediate excavated areas it has been decided to present to the public only one of them in which the remains of two buildings that had to constitute a body of guard to control access from the village have been documented.
Thanks to the works of archeology and restoration has been able to date the various canvases and towers of the wall, and locate the processes of old and recent restorations. Most of the remains that remain can be dated to the fourteenth century, many of which are attributable to Tenorio's interventions. Being few, (except those of the Door of Burgos attributable to Century XIII) and difficult to interpretable the oldest rest.
