Medieval Christian Murcia Art Route

The Christian conquest of Murcia was undertaken by Alfonso X towards the middle of the XIII century. This meant an administrative and urban organization of the whole Region. Cities started changing and the new rules used the buildings already present.

The chapel of los Pasos de Santiago, located in the street named after it, is an example from this uncertain period, and maybe the oldest of its kind in the Region. It has only one nave, with transverse arches and a wooden roof, and reminds us of some Valencian models.

There are a number of remarkable military buildings from this period Among them, the castle of Lorca, readapted, like so many others, by the victorious troops from Castle and Aragon. Its tTorre Alfonsina, erected by order of King Alfonso X still stands imposingly over the triple line of defensive walls.

The castle of La concepción in cartagena takes up a strategic hill on which all the peoples who settled by this sheltered bay decided to build their defences from the dawn of time. The remains we still keep may also be traced back to king Alfonso X, who ordered their construction in 1245, after the occupation of the city. The puerta de la Villa may be found nearby. It used to be the main access point to the citadel. The castle of Mula, though not strictly medieval (it was built in 1524) is one of the best preserved of all, and still shows the splendour of the Fajardo family, their proprietors in the XVI century; the fortress is a superb work of masonry, erected on a rocky spur on the heights above Mula and its meadows. Still another famous fortress is that in Moratalla, built by the knight of the Order of St James, to whom the village was entrusted after the Reconquest; its Torre del Homenaje (Keep) is a robust work of masonry with ashlar angles more than 20 metres high and nine metres wide. The improvements and extension of the castle of Caravaca may be attributed to the Order of the Templars, Inside, the santuario de la Cruz (sanctuary of the Cross).

The castle of Aledo is a defensive bastion with a major role in the defense of the Guadalentín valley. It still keeps the tower of La Calahorra, erected by the Muslims in the XI century, and later reinforced by the Castilians after the conquest of the city by the troops of King Alfonso VI.

The castle of Jumilla was built by order of the remains of a Roman fortification, on top of which an Arab building was later erected. Its main feature is its great semicirculat Torre del Homenaje ( The keep).

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