Museo Castle

HERRERA DEL DUQUE CASTLE:

This fortress is a magnificent example of a stately building built by the Sotomayor family. It occupies the summit of the Sierra de Chamorro, 745 meters high, allowing the domain of a large area of ​​land in the provinces of Córdoba, Badajoz and Ciudad Real.

From it we can see the Castle of Puebla de Alcocer, which is located 25 km SW, also belonging to the Sotomayor and with whom it has a visual link and a reasonable distance for the time in which the journeys were usually made on foot, taking a day upon arrival.

In short, it is worth highlighting its military value with great control over a large area; its strategic enclave controlling two roads, Mérida and Ciudad Real, and also one of the roads between Seville and Toledo.

archaeological study

Materials and architectural elements:

Predominance of stone. Course masonry using medium blocks on both the inside and outside of the castle. In the external corners, large roughly hewn blocks are used, that is, ashlar combined with masonry. In addition, brick is used on the edges of the windows and doors.

Wood was also used, as demonstrated by the regular rows of holes, for the heads of beams placed in the palace chambers and on the inside of the curtains. Due to the existence of these gaps, the use of wooden floors and roofs is deduced. However, the brick vault was also used in the cistern, the entrance and at the level of the walkways.

The semicircular arch was used profusely in the main doorway, interior doors, machicolation and in the windows.

Fortress Structure:

It is an enclosure shaped like an irregular 8-sided polygon with a perimeter of 183 meters. With a single entrance door on the east face, it has no parapets or battlements although it maintains the wall path. It had a barbican, a moat, a cistern and a keep. The interior ruins clearly show that there were high and low rooms with pine wood ceilings on the east and south facades, and other smaller rooms.

Brick vaults were used in the cistern, at the entrance and at the level of the walkways.

The castle underwent some renovations as there are blocked openings. Few decorative elements remain.