Origin (14th century)

To correctly understand the origin of both the Monroy castle and the town that was formed around it, we must take into account the context in which the Reconquista took place in what is currently the province of Cáceres. In the 2nd centuries, much of this territory was a no-man's land that neither the Christians nor the Andalusians were able to control stably. (Spain)").[1]​[9]​[10]​.

The origin of this disputed area took place in 1167, when Fernando II of León handed over Alconétar, with territories such as the Talaván field, to the Order of the Temple. The continuous Almohad counterattacks meant that the Templars could not control the area; Despite this situation, theoretically the lands still belonged to the town of Alconétar. However, when the town of Cáceres was reconquered in 1229, Alfonso IX of León stated in the Cáceres charter that the Talaván field, where "the heads of Mont-Roy" were expressly mentioned, was Cáceres territory.[9] Despite all this, at the end of the century, in the time of Sancho IV of Castile, it was also mentioned that the jurisdiction of Talaván and Monroy belonged to the lands. of the city of Plasencia, remaining from that time on in the community of city and land of Plasencia, within which they would form part of the sexmería of Campo Arañuelo"). Spanish.[1]​[11]​.

The solution to all these disputes was to mark the Almonte River as the permanent and easily identifiable northern limit of the jurisdictions of Cáceres and Trujillo, in turn separated from each other by the Tamuja River. Monroy and Talaván, north of Almonte, would remain under Placentine jurisdiction, as Alconétar was finally depopulated after the Muslim attacks of the first half of that century. territory of the farmhouse called "Monroy" to found a town with a fortress. However, the origins of the fortification date back to the year 1309, a date on which Ferdinand IV "the Employed" confirmed the previous privilege. Among the rights that Hernán Pérez acquired was expressly the right to build a castle, as well as populate the place with up to one hundred neighbors (families), all under the legal regime of mayorazgo. Thus arose the Monroy manor, which throughout the century formed a joint estate with Valverde de la Vera and Talaván, although this last neighboring manor would end up separating in the century.[1]​[14][15]​.

Once the existence of a permanent jurisdiction was established, the lords of Monroy began the construction of the castle that gave rise to the town. Probably, in its origin it was a simple "strong house" founded at the beginning of the 19th century, which would be progressively expanded and renovated. Above the main door of the castle you can see the date of 1329, undoubtedly the rest of the original building. In the Interrogation of the Royal Court of Extremadura, from the end of the century, the residents of the town indicate 1330 as the traditional date of construction of the castle. The oldest part of the castle is its main body, with a quadrangular section, along with its three original towers that date back to the 19th century.[1][2][14][16]​.

The function of this "strong house" was not defensive for the Crown, since a century had passed since the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa and the border with the Andalusians was already very far away. The objective was the repopulation of the territory and its agricultural and livestock exploitation, which was not necessarily done through localities: in a large part of the Trujillo-Cáceres peninsula, numerous stately farmhouses with several centuries of history are preserved, which did not give rise to inhabited settlements but which form large palaces in the middle of nowhere. Whether these farmhouses ended up more or less fortified was a decision of each noble family, which would depend on the confrontations in which they were involved against other families.[4][5]​.

Noble Wars (15th century)

The Monroy noble family had a high importance in medieval times, as they owned several manors in what is currently the province of Cáceres and came to assume high positions in the military orders. This situation gave rise to its intervention in the internal conflicts suffered by the Crown of Castile in the centuries and , which affected the castle of Monroy.[16]​ The origin of the whole problem came from the first Castilian civil war, in which the Monroys (Petristas) had another noble family from Placentine, the Almaraz, lords of the castle of Belvís, on the opposite side (Trastamaristas). The enmity even led to homicides between both families.[17]​.

To pacify the situation, a marriage was agreed between both families, in order to create a powerful noble family that would give peace and stability to the lands of Plasencia, which would be the Monroy-Almaraz. To this end, at the end of the century the heir to the Monroyego manor and castle, Fernán Rodríguez de Monroy, great-grandson of Hernán Pérez, married Isabel de Almaraz. During the first third of the century, the couple ruled various lordships such as Monroy, Belvís, Almaraz, Deleitosa and Valverde.[18]​ This period of peace is remembered in several of these localities as an important time: for example, Belvís is now called "Belvís de Monroy",[19]​ while Deleitosa and Valverde have municipal shields based on the Monroyego shield.[20]​[21]​.

The problem came with the succession of this important marriage. His first-born son, Diego de Monroy y Almaraz, died in 1435 in Ubrique in combat against the Moors. The heir then had to be the second son, Álvaro, who according to the custom of the time was part of the clergy and therefore had no descendants. To avoid major problems, it was decided to distribute the lands between the other brothers, Alfonso and Rodrigo, the first keeping Almaraz, Belvís and Deleitosa and the second keeping the castle of Monroy. Although the intention was to make a peaceful partition, the political situation in Castile at that time prevented it, with serious military disorders such as the civil war of 1437-1445 or the conflict over the succession of Henry IV.[19]​[22]​.

Although the brothers Alfonso and Rodrigo were already having disputes over their dynastic rights, it was their respective sons who took the situation to an extreme level starting in 1452. The great confrontation was carried out by Hernán de Monroy "el Gigante" and Hernando de Monroy "el Bezudo", lords of Almaraz and Monroy respectively. Also intervening in this dispute, on behalf of the lords of Almaraz, was the brother of the first, Alonso de Monroy, key maker of the Order of Alcántara, and his uncle, the master of the same order Gutierre de Sotomayor. Between 1452 and 1453, the conflict between the cousins ​​crystallized in a siege against the castle and the then lord of Monroy, Rodrigo. The story of the siege of Monroy castle, which lasted seven months, can already be read in the "Chronicle of the Order of Alcántara" by Torres y Tapia, who in 1763 transcribed a letter from Juan II of Castile about the incident. After the siege, "el Bezudo" was taken prisoner. For some time the castle was occupied by "the Giant", later returning to the hands of his cousin "the Bezudo". However, family disputes continued around them and other issues such as the provision of the mastership of Alcántara or the war of Castilian succession. Thus the family fights continued for years.[1][14][23][24]​.

Reorganization as a country palace (16th-18th centuries)

At the beginning of the century, the consolidation of royal power by the Catholic Monarchs led to the pacification of the nobility, putting an end to numerous internal confrontations throughout the country. In the case of the Monroy noble family, the definitive peace agreement was signed in 1508 between Francisco de Monroy, lord of Belvís and grandson of Hernán de Monroy "the Giant", and Monroy's widow, Francisca de la Peña. Throughout his life, "el Bezudo" had continued to claim by various means his rights over the lordships of Almaraz, Belvís and Deleitosa, indicating them for the last time in a codicil shortly before his death in 1507. His son and heir, Fabián de Monroy, was only lord of Monroy for a few months, since he died in 1508. It was at that time when Francisca de la Peña, the widow of the latter, decided to adapt to the new times of peace and put an end to decades of disorders.[25]​.

The peace situation was taken advantage of by the lords of Monroy to convert the fortification into a more palatial-looking property. Thus, the south façade dates from the century, which responds to residential and non-defensive models, as is typical of the first half of this century. Notable interior renovations were also carried out at that time. Until then, the only exterior defense of the main building was the current fortified interior enclosure, which served as a barbican and was surrounded by a moat; The current barbican that marks the exterior was not built for defensive purposes, but was designed as a simple wall so that the orchards and other stately rooms would be isolated from the town. Although this last external fence could have datable areas as early as the 19th century, it is most likely that it dates largely from the 19th century.[1]​[16]​[26]​.

The pacification of the century led many Spanish nobles to abandon their medieval lands and begin to run their lordships from Madrid or other important cities, through intermediaries. In the case of Monroy, already in medieval times the lords had always preferred to live in their Placentine palace "Palacio de los Monroy (Plasencia)") and, when in the middle of the century Plasencia was handed over as a manor to the House of Zúñiga, they began to look for a seat in other important towns rather than staying in Monroy, which was a second residence for the family.[27] Thus, the great-great-grandson of Fabián de Monroy and Francisca de la Peña, Antonio de Monroy had two sons named Fernando and Juan, who were no longer called lords but were elevated to marquises of Monroy, the first between 1634 and 1656 and the second succeeding him until 1679. The rise of the title was due to the fact that these nobles worked at the court of the House of Austria, going to distant places such as Vienna or Flanders.[28] As a consequence of this lordly remoteness, there is practically no documentation about the castle at all. the century.[27]​.

Privatization and abandonment (19th-20th centuries)

In the last years of the century, the noble family of Monroy began to have some concern about the poor management of their lands as a consequence of the urban life that the marquises had led. In the summer of 1795, Juan de Monroy's great-great-grandson, Joaquín Ginés de Oca, was dying. He had accumulated a dozen noble titles in addition to that of Marquis of Monroy. On the verge of dying without descendants, he attempted to leave Monroy repopulated by signing a Deed of Concord, in which the historical territory of the town ("Los Terms") was placed under a perpetual emphyteusis, in which the neighbors would have useful ownership of the entire land, paying the future marquises the eleventh part ("eleventh") of their production. The Deed of Concord came into force in 1802, when it was ratified by the Council of Castile.[32]​.

The payment of the "eleventh" began to be problematic throughout the first half of the century, when the abolition of manors occurred in Spain. The residents of the now municipality refused to pay the marquises, claiming that it was a tax from the abolished Old Regime. However, the marquises maintained that the seigneurial regime had been abolished in Monroy with the Deed of Concord of 1795, and what had existed since then was a common civil law ownership of the marquises over the lands, affected by a real right that regulated their use. The complicated political situation that the liberal revolutions were causing led to an endless lawsuit, so in the 1880s an agreement was reached that granted the "eleventh" income to the Monroy City Council, in exchange for temporary compensation to the marquises, who would maintain private properties in the municipal area.[32]​.

The main consequence of the "eleventh" lawsuits was that the castle of Monroy became private property, losing any administrative function that it could have had in the Old Regime. According to Madoz's dictionary, in the middle of the century it still belonged to the marquises and was inhabited by their dependents. Although this dictionary mentions it as a "solid" construction, it uses the word "vestiges" to refer to the moat and part of the exterior walls.[34]​.

The fact that the castle was private property had an important consequence: every time a marquis died, the medieval institution of mayorazgo was no longer applied to his inheritance, but rather the common civil law, so all assets ended up being distributed among several heirs, regardless of whether they were marquises or not. At the beginning of the century, the Cáceres noble Pablo Félix Arias de Saavedra had inherited the Marquisate of Monroy, without another additional noble title, when the last members of the main branch of the Monroys died without descendants. However, in 1827 Arias de Saavedra also died without issue, and in his will he left the marquisate in the hands of the Abraldes noble family, descendants of the Monroys through a branch of the Becerra noble family of Cáceres. The last Marquis of Monroy who was lord of the castle was Juan María de Varela y Abraldes, who died in 1891, also without issue.[1][33]​.

First historiographic descriptions (1912-1968)

In the years in which the Marquis of Cerralbo was the owner, some rehabilitation works were carried out on the castle, and this period has gone down in the history of the building for being the time in which its first known photographs were taken.[36][37] Likewise, the first historiographic document on the building was published in 1912. The Cáceres historian Publio Hurtado, who had experienced as an eyewitness the aforementioned riots in his city two decades before, included a brief summary of the history of the castle. castle in a book titled Castles, towers and strong houses of the province of Cáceres. He did not describe the castle, limiting himself to pointing out in a single line that "The fortress still exists, although somewhat damaged."[27]​[35][38]​ It was difficult at that time for a historian to visit in situ the Monroy castle, since at the beginning of the century there was no road in the municipal limits of the Four Places, and access to the area was exclusively through roads that were difficult to navigate.[39]​.

Due to the latter, the first detailed description known of the castle took place a decade after the death of the Marquis of Cerralbo. Taking advantage of the fact that the highway now known as EX-390 had just been built, the Ateneo de Cáceres organized its first excursion in February 1931, which took place from the city's main square to Monroy. This town had developed as an important town of almost three thousand inhabitants thanks to the benefits of the "eleventh", but until then it was an almost unknown place. Among the hikers was the Cauriense historian Tomás Martín Gil"), who collected in detail the monuments visited along the way, and published his story in 1932 in the Revista de Estudios Extremadura. This historian described in three paragraphs the visit to the outer precincts of the castle, publishing a photograph of the access from the square and another of the Renaissance gallery, and pointing out for the first time the presence of archaeological remains in the facilities. The hikers were not able to visit the interior of the fortress, since it was still part of a recumbent inheritance and was closed without anyone wanting to take charge of it.[40]​.

After the stoppage in cultural production caused by the Spanish Civil War, the castle was rescued from oblivion by Vicente Albarrán Murillo, a teacher who had been mayor of Santibáñez el Alto during the Second Republic, and who had been banished first to Millanes and later to Casar de Cáceres as part of the Franco purge, because he had moved local workers to occupy the lands of a family with which he was in conflict in the municipality he governed. During his last years working as a teacher in Casar de Cáceres, he dedicated himself to writing literary publications, among which he published in 1951 in the magazine a description of the ruined castle of Monroy, of which he included three photographs. This publication, more poetic than technical, had a protest against the state of ruin suffered by the castles in Spain. The publication was not a coincidence: it took place two years after a decree had been approved in 1949 that protected all these buildings as monuments, without apparently having a real intention to rebuild them, in the context of the post-war economic crisis.[41][42][43][44]​.

Reconstruction of Pablo Palazuelo (1970-1985)

The history of the castle changed radically in 1968, when the well-known artist Pablo Palazuelo saw an advertisement in a newspaper that the castle was still for sale, and immediately decided to buy it to carry out an experimental artistic project. Despite being in a partially ruined state, the price at which it was sold was about 750,000 pesetas; At that time, this was equivalent to the minimum wage of a person for a quarter of a century, something unaffordable for any inhabitant of this municipality, where a large emigration was taking place as a result of the lack of work and many residents were suffering from real hunger.[49]​.

The sale was formalized in 1970, and from then until 1985 the artist directed a comprehensive reconstruction and remodeling work. To do this, he followed historicist criteria of repristinization, trying to return the castle to the appearance it must have offered around 1600.[1]​ It was a notable work of reconstruction, in which a new tower was even built where, apparently, one wanted to be built in its origins.[16]​ The artist had such an obsession with rebuilding the castle that he carried out almost the entire initial phase of the restoration, in which about fifteen local masons worked, with his own money, since subsidies to the historical heritage did not They would become widespread in Spain until the autonomous communities assumed powers in this matter. Much later, public contributions would begin to arrive, as the authorities recognized that notable work was being done. In an interview in 1977, the artist complained that the work was leading him to financial ruin, but he did not seem to care much: according to those who spoke with him in the town, he was obsessed with the esotericism of the Order of the Temple and believed that the castle had been built with an astronomical orientation, following the traditions that said order had implanted in the area.[49][50]​.

In the first years, a project of excavations and demolitions was drawn up, which was carried out meticulously and with extreme care, in order to investigate its true architectural history. In this way, its first and original traces of a fortress from the 19th century were certainly discovered, as well as its transformation into a palace-fort in the 19th century. The extent of the less convenient interventions carried out in the 17th to 19th centuries also became known. In the reconstruction and restoration works, the same materials that were used for its construction were used: sand from the mines and stone and lime from the same quarries. Authentic pieces found in excavations and demolitions were reproduced, and the original traces were maintained, reconstructing their proportions, volumes and surface. In an attempt to complete the original appearance, in 1978 Minister Pío Cabanillas authorized procedures to expropriate the two existing homes on the corner of the main square, which could not be carried out due to the administrative chaos caused by the Transition.[51]​.

Contenido

La fortaleza se articula mediante tres recintos concéntricos de forma cuadrada: uno exterior o barbacana; otro interior; y un tercero constituido por el inmueble principal. Además, entre la barbacana y el inmueble principal existen varios patios, jardines, zona de huertos, lavadero y dependencias varias.[1]​.

El conjunto está construido mediante mampostería, sillería, así como cantería y ladrillo en zonas como recercos, principalmente. Las diferentes plantas se separan mediante bóvedas y forjados de madera. Además, debido a las obras de reconstrucción acometidas, también existen numerosos elementos constructivos contemporáneos.[1]​.

Exterior fence or barbican

Externally, a large barbican of ashlar and masonry surrounds the complex. This barbican was restored in the 2010s, after having been repaired for years in many sections with a wall of industrial concrete blocks, which until then made the castle courtyard look more like an orchard than a medieval fortress. Several holes open in this fence that give access to the fortification, some more monumental and others simpler.[1]​.

The main access door, both due to location and artistic character, is the one that opens towards the east in the Plaza de España. It consists of two cylindrical towers that frame two semicircular arches at different heights, the lower one containing the access door. Two walkways with merlons are located above both arches.[1]​ This access is an imitation of the San Vicente gate of the wall of Ávila. The current main door was designed in the early years of the century by a castle administrator of Avilés origin, and a mason from Monroy built it with such quality that it was mistakenly confused with a true historical door.[52]​.

The other door with some decoration opens on Calle de las Artes, where there is a semicircular stone opening with decorative pometado on its fascias. The rest of the entrances have no artistic interest: a simple garage door opens in a gap in the wall in front of the doctor's office, while several lintel doors and a small window form openings in the western wall. Inside the fortification there are remains of structures that indicate that at the back there must have been an access road to the castle, through a door that is now blocked up.[1]​.

In general, this barbican was for centuries a simple delimitation wall, which explains the low amount of artistic elements: only the two aforementioned artistic doors break its simplicity, as well as a square crenellated tower located at the eastern end of Calle de las Artes, which is the only element that directly connects the inner fence with the outer one. Due to the lack of artistic interest, buildings have been built around the medical office that currently interrupt the course of the barbican: a two-story house on the corner of the Plaza de España, and some disused corrals a few meters west of said house.[1]​.

Interior of the fortification

The interior of the fortification is structured around a second almost square-shaped fence, located in the easternmost part of the enclosure delimited by the aforementioned barbican. This "second enclosure" houses the castle itself, but it is not the only structure to take into account, as it coexists with various other facilities. Firstly, from the main access of the exterior fence you enter a space that functions as an anteroom to said "second enclosure". On the left hand side from the entrance, a space is visible between the barbican and the barrier wall in which a curb corresponding, perhaps, to a cistern is located. On the right hand side, there was a house with a facade to the square that was demolished during the restoration of the barbican in the 2010s, expanding the space of this anteroom with this demolition.[1]​.

Behind this space is the eastern side of the second wall or barrier of the enclosure, about five meters high, on which there is a promenade. This wall that facilitates access to the "second enclosure" is accessible on this side through an open hole, which in the 2010s was covered with a large Corten steel lintel, and which probably replaces an old missing door. The barrier has embrasures, and in this section of wall there are also three case-hammered gunboats with interior and exterior spills. This section is limited to the north by a square crenellated tower, next to which is a smaller cube with a pyramidal roof "Pyramid (geometry)"); Currently this tower, except for the cube, is the only historical element that is not part of the cadastral plot of the castle, since it is attached to the two-story house with views of the aforementioned Plaza de España. At the other limit of the section, to the south, is the square tower mentioned above that faces the outside on Calle de las Artes. Both towers, very similar in appearance, are only two meters higher than the wall, and each has a single access opening to the roof from the promenade. Pablo Palazuelo's restoration eliminated some decorative turrets that had been added to these towers.[1][53]​.

Crossing the barrier, you access the parade ground, where the main building of the complex is located, as well as a low-rise adjacent masonry building that closes the patio in its northern part. This building was the barn and is the space that was converted into the studio of the painter Pablo Palazuelo. From the square towers of the barrier already mentioned, the wall extends forming a square that surrounds the main building. According to archaeological excavations, it does not seem that in the western corners there have been towers similar to those in the eastern corners, which is explained because the terrain to the west is more inclined and therefore easier to defend; However, in the northwest corner, remains of a small diameter cylindrical structure were found, corresponding to a bastion. There is a cave or pit excavated in the rock located between the barbican and the barrier on its north, south and west sides, but which must have completely surrounded the main building at the time.[1][54]​.

Exterior of the main building

The appearance of the castle externally is a building with a square, crenellated plan, with pentagonal towers emerging from the corners. The coverage of the four bays "Crujía (architecture)") is terraced "Terrace (architecture)"). The main façade is located to the east, facing the current main entrance door. This is flanked by the NE and SE towers, whose upper parts protrude slightly as a cantilever. Both towers have few windows. On the façade, on the masonry and ashlar facing, there is a semicircular entrance opening, with stone voussoirs and the date 1329, as well as a shield over the keystone of the arch "Key (architecture)") dating back to the 19th century.[1][57]​.

Above this door, but at a much higher height, on the walkway, is a machicolation with its thief's shed. Four small loopholes are distributed along the façade on both floors. The southeast tower is one of the three historic towers of the castle and receives two different names: "of the Clock" (traditional name in the town, since it had a tower clock in the 19th century) or "of the Dungeon" (name by which Pablo Palazuelo referred to it, because the dungeons of the castle "Dungeon (prison)") are located on its ground floor). The northeast tower is completely new: Pablo Palazuelo had it built with a symmetrical shape to the previously mentioned one, when it was discovered in the archaeological excavation that there had been another tower here of which only the foundations remained.[1][57]​.

Although the east façade is the main one because it faces the square, artistically the one on the south front that faces Arts Street is more notable, a monumental façade of a Renaissance palace type. This consists of a two-story loggia "Lodge (architecture)". In the lower one, of great height, two very slender "Column (architecture)") columns of compound order support three semicircular arches. Internally, the openings on the ground floor are contemporary, imitating Gothic models. On the upper floor of the loggia, two low columns form three lowered arches, within which there is a viewpoint. This gallery is the best-known part of the palace reform of the century; It is believed that it was built on a free-standing wall, since in medieval times the entrance to the fortress must have been on this side, connecting the exit of the town to the south with the parade ground inside the castle, in line with the drawbridge.[1][58]​.

This palatial façade is delimited in the southeast corner by the tower previously mentioned as "the Clock" or "the Dungeon", but the one located in the southwest corner, known colloquially as the "Tower of Martyrdom", stands out much more. It has been identified as the keep of the castle because it is the only one of the four towers that is not aligned with the walls of the wall, and because it also houses a chapel inside. In this main tower there are several openings at different heights, very simple, and a door that allows access from the outside. In this tower there are also remains of machicolations, currently in disuse and without any access from the tower.[1]​[59]​.

Interior of the main building

The main fortress building is internally structured around a small rectangular patio, in the center of which stands a square curb that preserves its original metal posts. This patio is currently accessed through the door on the eastern façade, shaped like a semicircular arch, which inside is framed under a large stone arch, also semicircular but of great height. This large arch forms a kind of hallway inside that supports the upper floor, where a gallery is located in which a right wooden foot supports the wooden cover. From this landing a staircase, attached to the south wall, descends to the patio. In this space, in its lower part, you can access the north and south bays "Crujía (architecture)") on the ground floor through semicircular arches.[1][62]​.

On the northern flank of the patio, several windows, some of them with inscribed ogee arches, and a door with a balcony, open into the plastered wall. Some of the openings have bars "Reja (architecture)") of interest, as well as a wrought iron balcony, also of value. There are also several holes in the south wall.[1][62]​.

But the most decorated interior façade is the west one. In this, several holes are notable, of different sizes, with square and ogee shapes. Among the openings, those that have the shape of an ogee arch stand out, such as the entrance door on the ground floor and that of a balcony window on the first floor, as well as that of a lowered arch on the ground floor, the latter two equipped with artistic bars. All of these openings have Renaissance plant-type decoration in their arches. A shield is located on the upper floor. The layout and decoration of this wall imitate the appearance of a palatial public road façade, indicating that the main palatial core is accessed here.[1]​[63]​.

Once you access the building by entering through the western wall of the patio, you will find a lobby covered by a wooden coffered ceiling, with an imposing stone staircase with a balustrade railing. This staircase culminates on the second floor in a monumental doorway, which consists of a semicircular arch flanked by two molded pilasters topped with a shallow capital. The cover is decorated with Renaissance-type plant elements. Entering this wing, through the aforementioned doorway, the staircase continues to the left and in the opposite direction: at the end of this second flight of stairs, there is another doorway made of an ogee arch with Renaissance putti heads, which gives access to the noble rooms. According to the hypothesis of local historians Sierra Simón and García Jiménez, the sculptural work of the building corresponds, due to its elemental continuity throughout the property, to a single author or workshop; At the time, it was most likely made by the same sculptors from Trujillo (Spain) who in the first third of the century were working on the church of Santa Catalina "Iglesia de Santa Catalina (Monroy)").[1][64]​.

Chapel

The interior of the keep houses the castle chapel, consisting of a small room, covered by a pointed barrel vault. It must have been completely covered with wall paintings, of which only two remain today. In the first of them, above the access door, a cross appears with the vase of lilies, the characteristic emblem of the Virgin Mary "Mary (mother of Jesus)"), in its center; The anagram "MS" appears on the right arm; On the left arm appears a bird, perhaps an eagle, symbol of the rise of prayer "Prayer (religion)").[1]​[65]​.

The other paintings are located around a credence or tabernacle inscribed on the right wall, with fleurs-de-lis decorating its angles. On the left hand side is written "IHS", and on the right side, "XPS", that is, the acronyms for Jesus Christ the Savior in Latin and Greek. A small Alcántara cross is also painted on the credence, while at the bottom you can see a braided cross.[1]​[66]​.

Cuando la Junta de Extremadura publicó la incoación del segundo expediente de bien de interés cultural en 2024, hizo pública una lista de elementos de interés arquitectónico o arqueológico que se conservan acopiados en los espacios abiertos del bien. En general, la mayoría de ellos son bienes muebles o elementos arquitectónicos procedentes de la propia construcción (piezas de granito) que aparecen desplazados de su ubicación original. Aunque la Junta los clasifica según su ubicación, a efectos más informativos pueden distinguirse cinco categorías entre las piedras catalogadas: cinco inscripciones epigráficas en latín, tres escudos "Escudo (heráldica)"), dos verracos, cuatro objetos relacionados con el agua y diez conjuntos clasificados de restos pétreos dispersos. Además, se conservan planos y dibujos arquitectónicos realizados por Pablo Palazuelo y su hermano arquitecto Juan Palazuelo, referentes a las diferentes reformas arquitectónicas acometidas en el edificio, que la Junta de Extremadura también considera parte inseparable del bien de interés cultural.[1]​.

Latin epigraphy

The Junta de Extremadura has cataloged five Latin inscriptions housed in stones from the castle.[1]​ To understand its location, it must be taken into account that the area around the Four Places was an area where rustic settlements proliferated in Ancient Rome, as its flat terrain facilitated the development of livestock farming. In the territory of this municipality, the Roman villa of Los Terminos de Monroy stands out, an important late Roman archaeological site from the 4th-5th centuries. Likewise, remains of Roman settlements have been found in the surroundings of the hermitage of Santa Ana "Ermita de Santa Ana (Monroy)"), in the nearby area of Las Paredes del Moro and on the farms of Tejarejo de Saliente, La Ventosilla and Parapuños, all in the current municipality of Monroy.[67]​ The area was completely rural in Roman times and, as archaeological investigations have deduced from the epigraphy, it was part of the northeastern limit of the territorium of the Norba Caesarina colony, so a part of the current municipality of Monroy would have belonged to this colony and the easternmost part to the neighboring municipality of Turgalium.[68]​ The presence of Roman settlements was key to the decision to build a large castle here, as they provided a great abundance of stone and it is not ruled out that part of the building is built with remains of one of these settlements.[69]​.

A Roman inscription has been cataloged in the eastern courtyard of the fortress, corresponding to record 6509 of Hispania Epigraphica. It was found in 1970 in the area of ​​Las Aguzaderas, corresponding to the surroundings of the aforementioned Roman villa, located about 5 km from the town center of the town. It was discovered by local young people Santiago García and José María Sierra, who reported the discovery to the well-known researcher Carlos Callejo Serrano, who was in charge of its inspection and dissemination. It is a stele "Stele (monument)") that is carved in light granite, with a rounded head and broken at the bottom, measuring 83x49x24 cm. Due to the chronology of the discovery, coinciding with the restoration of the castle, it must have been kept here at the initiative of Pablo Palazuelo, as the surroundings of the Roman villa were an unsafe place for such a remarkable stone. The stele houses the funerary inscription of Suriaco Turánez, a name of Celtic origin, accompanying his name with a solar disk. The inscription, which could continue later due to the worn base, states the following:[1]​[70]​.

For its part, four other inscriptions have been cataloged in the western courtyard of the fortress, corresponding to records 20358 to 20361 of Hispania Epigraphica. Unlike the previous one, these stones are in worse condition, are generally less legible and come from the castle itself. The four were investigated by archaeologists José Manuel Iglesias and José Luis Sánchez, in the context of the excavations that took place during the investigation prior to the restoration.[71] These four stones from the castle are the following, numbered according to the record of Hispania Epigraphica:[1]​.

• - Inscription 20358. It is a slate stele "Slate (rock)"), broken at the top and found in deplorable conditions. The little legible that has been transcribed is the following:[72]​.

• - Inscription 20359. It must have been a rectangular block, taking into account that the text begins and ends abruptly at the edges of the stone, without margins. It is a votive offering to the Roman goddess Bellona, ​​highly venerated in the area of ​​Turgalium:[73]​.

• - Inscription 20360. It was found in the excavations of the moat. It is a rectangular granite altar that preserves the right pulvino, dedicated by a woman called Adercia to a god. Its illegibility led to the deity's name originally being considered a hapax; However, in 2006 Juan Carlos Olivares, professor at the University of Alicante, reinterpreted the inscription indicating that it was dedicated to the Celtic god Bandua"). The original and revised transcriptions are as follows:[74].

• - Inscription 20361. It is a granite stele, roughly carved and broken at the bottom, where only the following is read:[1]​.

Shields

In the courtyards of the castle there are three historical stone shields "Escudo (heraldry)") cataloged by the Junta de Extremadura. All of them are considered assets of cultural interest "Asset of cultural interest (Spain)") in themselves, as they are protected by the second additional provision of the Historical and Cultural Heritage Law of Extremadura of 1999.[75]​.

The first of them is a shield carved in stone, rounded at its base as is characteristic from the 19th century onwards. Barracks "Barracks (heraldry)"), the dexterous barracks of the chief "Chief (heraldry)") consists of a crenellated castle "Castle (heraldry)") with a gate; the chief's sinister quarter contains four bands "Band (heraldry)") on which are placed eleven unidentified pieces; The right and left quarters of the "Campaign (heraldry)" points contain numerous pieces that are difficult to read; in the middle, a pointed escutcheon containing nine sticks "Palo (heraldry)") gules.[1]​.

For its part, in another patio there is another shield carved in stone, finished in a point, characteristic before the 19th century. Barracks: The chief's dexterous barracks displays five waving "Sash (Heraldry)") sashes; the boss's sinister quarter is a bar "Bar (heraldry)"); The right quarter of the tip is formed by four horizontal bands, while the sinister quarter of the tip is made up of five pieces.[1]​.

In the same patio as the latter there is a third shield carved in stone which, like the first mentioned, is rounded at its base, characteristic from the 1st century onwards. However, this shield suffers from wear and tear that prevents its content from being read.[1]​.

Boars

Likewise, inside the castle there are two zoomorphic sculptures known as "boars", associated with pre-Roman art, in particular, with the Veto culture. It actually corresponds to a complete piece and a fragment of another, the anterior part of the representation of the animal. In both cases, their origin has been related to the Villasviejas del Tamuja fort, in the Cáceres municipality of Botija "Botija (Cáceres)"), from where other examples of this type of sculptures come. Both would have appeared in "enclosure B" or south of the site, next to the door, and have been classified as "type 2." José Cuervo's general inventory of boars catalogs them with numbers 231 and 232.[1]​[76]​[77]​.

The one that represents a complete figure is the number 232. Sculpted in a block of granite, it represents a bull, with dimensions of 76x40x40 cm. It is in good condition, although it has a break in the snout and limbs at the knees. On some occasions, it has been related to another piece that still remains in the vicinity of the same pre-Roman settlement, specifically a possible pedestal.[1]​[77]​[78]​.

For its part, the number 231 represents a pig, measuring 70×55×45 cm. Of this other piece of granite, barely the front part of the sculpture is preserved, corresponding to the head and front legs of the animal, and also with a break in the snout. However, the eyes and ears are clearly visible. Additionally, as a detail, a snake is recognized engraved between the jaw and the leg.[1][76]​.

Both boars were found by chance around the 1970s, when a party wall collapsed on a farm in Botija near the aforementioned site, belonging to a private individual named Victoriano García. Upon finding a notable granite stone in an area where the walls are usually made of slate "Slate (rock)") and argillite, the owner contacted archaeologists Juan Valverde and Jaime Río-Miranda, from the Valdeobispo Cultural Group, who in 1981 publicly confirmed the discovery and made the two figures known. Considering the chronology of the discovery, the idea of acquiring the pieces to conserve them in the castle must have come from Pablo Palazuelo himself, since the discovery coincides in time with the restoration that the artist carried out in the building.[79]​ Despite their recent incorporation into the castle, in 2024 the Government of Extremadura declared both boars as movable property linked to the fortress,[1]​ as they are better preserved here than in their original location, since the castro of Villasviejas del Tamuja is located in a rustic area where the boars could be damaged by the transit of careless tourists.[80]​.

water stones

The Junta de Extremadura has cataloged the following four objects related to water:[1]​.

• - Baptismal font of the eastern patio. It is a hollow, hemispherical piece on a solid cylindrical base, made of a single block of granite. It shows a border with double curved thickening and decoration based on oblique lines in relief, which cover the surface between it and the base.

• - Baptismal font in the western courtyard. It is a hollow, cylindrical piece with a stepped narrowing towards the base, which serves as a foot. The edge is curved, slightly thickened, separated from the rest of the surface by a marked indentation below it. It has an evacuation hole at the bottom.

• - Well curb. Corresponding to the eastern patio, it is a prismatic piece of hexagonal shape, made of a single block of granite, pierced, with the interior being circular. The base, with a quadrangular plan, shows triangular elements that allow the transition between one geometry and another. The upper edge shows high wear, as a result of its use as a curb.

• - Battery or source. It is a monolithic piece of granite from the western courtyard. The upper part, which constitutes the tank or vessel itself, is hemispherical in shape, supported by a slender truncated pyramidal foot. It shows some decoration in relief, extremely worn or weathered, highlighting the angles and horizontal moldings that perhaps mark the transition towards the base and at mid-height.

scattered stones

The Junta de Extremadura has cataloged the following ten sets of scattered stones:[1]​.

• - Set No. 1 of the north patio. Large slabs "Laja (rock)") of slate, up to 1.5 m in length, and granite blocks of various sizes and shapes. Among them are ashlars, possible door jambs and arch voussoirs.

• - Complex No. 1 of the east patio. Lintel and window jambs, with remains of wrought iron grille insertion.

• - Complex No. 2 of the east patio. Granite pieces corresponding to the doorway with a semicircular arch. They are placed on the floor of the patio, in an orderly manner, in accordance with their presumed original layout.

• - Complex No. 1 at the foot of the southeast tower in the east courtyard. Large slate slabs and pieces of decorated stonework, two of them probably pilaster "Drum (architecture)" drums.

• - Complex No. 2 at the foot of the southeast tower in the east courtyard. Large slabs of slate, up to 1.5 m in length, and granite blocks of various sizes and shapes. Among them are ashlars, possible door jambs and arch voussoirs.

• - Complex No. 1 next to the southern entrance to the fortress. Collection of large pieces of granite, probably thresholds "Threshold (architecture)") of doors, some with simple moldings under the edge of the tread. They appear stacked.

• - Complex No. 2 next to the southern entrance to the fortress. Collection of slate slabs and regular pieces of granite next to the corner of the SE tower of the castle. They must have corresponded to paving, thresholds and other architectural elements.

• - Complex No. 3 next to the southern entrance to the fortress. Scatter of granite pieces, mostly ashlars, among which possible thresholds, door jambs, columns, pilasters, lattices "Celosía (architecture)"), decorated corbels, among others. Except for certain concentrations, these elements, located in the gardens or orchard in the western part of the enclosure, do not show the collection detected in other areas of the fortress.

• - Granite columns next to the western access to the main body of the fortress. Two elements made of a single, narrow, cylindrical block, perhaps one meter high, that includes a shaft decorated with fine vertical grooves, extremely worn, on a quadrangular base and simple curved molding. It ends at the top with a kind of capital with a wide vertical slit or lace, probably intended to support a horizontal piece.

• - Capital decorated with leaves next to the western access to the main body of the fortress. Small piece of granite – approximately 30 cm –, truncated pyramidal shape. It presents vegetal decoration in relief based on acanthus leaves "Acanthus (decoration)") highly schematized in the angles. It is part of one of the collections of decontextualized construction material.

Like all other castles in Spain, Monroy is declared an asset of cultural interest "Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain)") by the Decree of April 22, 1949.[44] The initial objective of the restoration carried out by Pablo Palazuelo, as he explained in a conference in Cáceres in 1979, was to establish a center for young artists with an open workshop in Monroy castle. This project could not be carried out because the artist first needed to be able to finish the restoration, which he was paying for with his own money at a time when public subsidies did not yet exist.[81]​.

It was from 1987, with Palazuelo already half-retired and retired from Monroy without having been able to complete his project, when the public authorities began to take a real interest in the situation of the castle. At the end of that year, the Extremadura Government issued a resolution initiating a file to declare a property of specific cultural interest for the Monroy castle. The castle itself already had that status since 1949; What was intended with this file was to create a landscape protection zone that would include the entire Plaza de España and all those buildings that had a façade in front of the fortification in the surrounding streets.[82] Although said file was not continued, the delimitation of the castle and its surroundings remained, and the property was registered, provisionally, in the Registry of Assets of Cultural Interest of the Ministry of Culture "Ministry of Culture (Spain)"), with code 8179.[1]​.

In the years following this file, Pablo Palazuelo continued to visit Monroy, but mainly on vacation visits and sporadically. Around 1993-1994, when the painter was almost eighty years old, he explained to the residents of the town his intention to create a foundation "Foundation (law)") to create a permanent exhibition of paintings in the castle. The big problem that Palazuelo had was the same that other owners of the castle had had throughout history: his not very open character had left him without direct descendants, so he entrusted the management of this foundation to his nephew, the well-known diplomat José Rodríguez-Spiteri. The foundation could facilitate the carrying out of new reconstruction works in the following decades, when there was already public aid for the conservation of monuments.[49]​[50]​.

Despite the notable effort of Palazuelo's successors to continue his work, which was reflected in important subsequent restorations, the castle is geographically located three hundred kilometers from Madrid, the place of origin of the artist's family and still today the headquarters of his foundation, with the added problem that the last forty kilometers that separate Monroy from the Madrid highway are along a complicated rural road. This geographical distance between the property and the building has caused it to fall into disuse for four decades, with complaints about it being common from the residents of the town: a few days after the artist's death in 2007, the neighbors were already demanding in the press that the castle be permanently opened to the public.[49][83]​.

In 2022, the Junta de Extremadura proceeded to prepare a technical report to restart the 1987 file, which led to the publication of a new initiation in 2024. The new file for declaration of property of cultural interest not only includes the castle and its surroundings, but also a more detailed description of the property and delimitation and a review of the movable property associated with this property.[1]​ This restart of the file coincides with the presence of relatives of Palazuelo in the nearby area. city of Cáceres, where they intend to open a five-star hotel in the Godoy palace "Palacio de Godoy (Cáceres)"), which has given rise to speculation in the local press about a possible new use of the Monroyego castle.

• - Marquisate of Monroy.

• - Belvís de Monroy Castle.

• - Pablo Palazuelo.

• - This article includes content derived from a provision relating to the process of protection, initiation or declaration of a cultural or natural asset published in the Official State Gazette No. 90 on April 12, 2024 (), which is free of known restrictions under copyright in accordance with the provisions of article 13 of the Spanish Intellectual Property Law.

• - This article includes content derived from a provision relating to the process of protection, initiation or declaration of a cultural or natural asset published in the Official State Gazette No. 96 on April 22, 1978 (), which is free of known restrictions under copyright in accordance with the provisions of article 13 of the Spanish Intellectual Property Law.

Origin (14th century)

To correctly understand the origin of both the Monroy castle and the town that was formed around it, we must take into account the context in which the Reconquista took place in what is currently the province of Cáceres. In the 2nd centuries, much of this territory was a no-man's land that neither the Christians nor the Andalusians were able to control stably. (Spain)").[1]​[9]​[10]​.

The origin of this disputed area took place in 1167, when Fernando II of León handed over Alconétar, with territories such as the Talaván field, to the Order of the Temple. The continuous Almohad counterattacks meant that the Templars could not control the area; Despite this situation, theoretically the lands still belonged to the town of Alconétar. However, when the town of Cáceres was reconquered in 1229, Alfonso IX of León stated in the Cáceres charter that the Talaván field, where "the heads of Mont-Roy" were expressly mentioned, was Cáceres territory.[9] Despite all this, at the end of the century, in the time of Sancho IV of Castile, it was also mentioned that the jurisdiction of Talaván and Monroy belonged to the lands. of the city of Plasencia, remaining from that time on in the community of city and land of Plasencia, within which they would form part of the sexmería of Campo Arañuelo"). Spanish.[1]​[11]​.

The solution to all these disputes was to mark the Almonte River as the permanent and easily identifiable northern limit of the jurisdictions of Cáceres and Trujillo, in turn separated from each other by the Tamuja River. Monroy and Talaván, north of Almonte, would remain under Placentine jurisdiction, as Alconétar was finally depopulated after the Muslim attacks of the first half of that century. territory of the farmhouse called "Monroy" to found a town with a fortress. However, the origins of the fortification date back to the year 1309, a date on which Ferdinand IV "the Employed" confirmed the previous privilege. Among the rights that Hernán Pérez acquired was expressly the right to build a castle, as well as populate the place with up to one hundred neighbors (families), all under the legal regime of mayorazgo. Thus arose the Monroy manor, which throughout the century formed a joint estate with Valverde de la Vera and Talaván, although this last neighboring manor would end up separating in the century.[1]​[14][15]​.

Once the existence of a permanent jurisdiction was established, the lords of Monroy began the construction of the castle that gave rise to the town. Probably, in its origin it was a simple "strong house" founded at the beginning of the 19th century, which would be progressively expanded and renovated. Above the main door of the castle you can see the date of 1329, undoubtedly the rest of the original building. In the Interrogation of the Royal Court of Extremadura, from the end of the century, the residents of the town indicate 1330 as the traditional date of construction of the castle. The oldest part of the castle is its main body, with a quadrangular section, along with its three original towers that date back to the 19th century.[1][2][14][16]​.

The function of this "strong house" was not defensive for the Crown, since a century had passed since the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa and the border with the Andalusians was already very far away. The objective was the repopulation of the territory and its agricultural and livestock exploitation, which was not necessarily done through localities: in a large part of the Trujillo-Cáceres peninsula, numerous stately farmhouses with several centuries of history are preserved, which did not give rise to inhabited settlements but which form large palaces in the middle of nowhere. Whether these farmhouses ended up more or less fortified was a decision of each noble family, which would depend on the confrontations in which they were involved against other families.[4][5]​.

Noble Wars (15th century)

The Monroy noble family had a high importance in medieval times, as they owned several manors in what is currently the province of Cáceres and came to assume high positions in the military orders. This situation gave rise to its intervention in the internal conflicts suffered by the Crown of Castile in the centuries and , which affected the castle of Monroy.[16]​ The origin of the whole problem came from the first Castilian civil war, in which the Monroys (Petristas) had another noble family from Placentine, the Almaraz, lords of the castle of Belvís, on the opposite side (Trastamaristas). The enmity even led to homicides between both families.[17]​.

To pacify the situation, a marriage was agreed between both families, in order to create a powerful noble family that would give peace and stability to the lands of Plasencia, which would be the Monroy-Almaraz. To this end, at the end of the century the heir to the Monroyego manor and castle, Fernán Rodríguez de Monroy, great-grandson of Hernán Pérez, married Isabel de Almaraz. During the first third of the century, the couple ruled various lordships such as Monroy, Belvís, Almaraz, Deleitosa and Valverde.[18]​ This period of peace is remembered in several of these localities as an important time: for example, Belvís is now called "Belvís de Monroy",[19]​ while Deleitosa and Valverde have municipal shields based on the Monroyego shield.[20]​[21]​.

The problem came with the succession of this important marriage. His first-born son, Diego de Monroy y Almaraz, died in 1435 in Ubrique in combat against the Moors. The heir then had to be the second son, Álvaro, who according to the custom of the time was part of the clergy and therefore had no descendants. To avoid major problems, it was decided to distribute the lands between the other brothers, Alfonso and Rodrigo, the first keeping Almaraz, Belvís and Deleitosa and the second keeping the castle of Monroy. Although the intention was to make a peaceful partition, the political situation in Castile at that time prevented it, with serious military disorders such as the civil war of 1437-1445 or the conflict over the succession of Henry IV.[19]​[22]​.

Although the brothers Alfonso and Rodrigo were already having disputes over their dynastic rights, it was their respective sons who took the situation to an extreme level starting in 1452. The great confrontation was carried out by Hernán de Monroy "el Gigante" and Hernando de Monroy "el Bezudo", lords of Almaraz and Monroy respectively. Also intervening in this dispute, on behalf of the lords of Almaraz, was the brother of the first, Alonso de Monroy, key maker of the Order of Alcántara, and his uncle, the master of the same order Gutierre de Sotomayor. Between 1452 and 1453, the conflict between the cousins ​​crystallized in a siege against the castle and the then lord of Monroy, Rodrigo. The story of the siege of Monroy castle, which lasted seven months, can already be read in the "Chronicle of the Order of Alcántara" by Torres y Tapia, who in 1763 transcribed a letter from Juan II of Castile about the incident. After the siege, "el Bezudo" was taken prisoner. For some time the castle was occupied by "the Giant", later returning to the hands of his cousin "the Bezudo". However, family disputes continued around them and other issues such as the provision of the mastership of Alcántara or the war of Castilian succession. Thus the family fights continued for years.[1][14][23][24]​.

Reorganization as a country palace (16th-18th centuries)

At the beginning of the century, the consolidation of royal power by the Catholic Monarchs led to the pacification of the nobility, putting an end to numerous internal confrontations throughout the country. In the case of the Monroy noble family, the definitive peace agreement was signed in 1508 between Francisco de Monroy, lord of Belvís and grandson of Hernán de Monroy "the Giant", and Monroy's widow, Francisca de la Peña. Throughout his life, "el Bezudo" had continued to claim by various means his rights over the lordships of Almaraz, Belvís and Deleitosa, indicating them for the last time in a codicil shortly before his death in 1507. His son and heir, Fabián de Monroy, was only lord of Monroy for a few months, since he died in 1508. It was at that time when Francisca de la Peña, the widow of the latter, decided to adapt to the new times of peace and put an end to decades of disorders.[25]​.

The peace situation was taken advantage of by the lords of Monroy to convert the fortification into a more palatial-looking property. Thus, the south façade dates from the century, which responds to residential and non-defensive models, as is typical of the first half of this century. Notable interior renovations were also carried out at that time. Until then, the only exterior defense of the main building was the current fortified interior enclosure, which served as a barbican and was surrounded by a moat; The current barbican that marks the exterior was not built for defensive purposes, but was designed as a simple wall so that the orchards and other stately rooms would be isolated from the town. Although this last external fence could have datable areas as early as the 19th century, it is most likely that it dates largely from the 19th century.[1]​[16]​[26]​.

The pacification of the century led many Spanish nobles to abandon their medieval lands and begin to run their lordships from Madrid or other important cities, through intermediaries. In the case of Monroy, already in medieval times the lords had always preferred to live in their Placentine palace "Palacio de los Monroy (Plasencia)") and, when in the middle of the century Plasencia was handed over as a manor to the House of Zúñiga, they began to look for a seat in other important towns rather than staying in Monroy, which was a second residence for the family.[27] Thus, the great-great-grandson of Fabián de Monroy and Francisca de la Peña, Antonio de Monroy had two sons named Fernando and Juan, who were no longer called lords but were elevated to marquises of Monroy, the first between 1634 and 1656 and the second succeeding him until 1679. The rise of the title was due to the fact that these nobles worked at the court of the House of Austria, going to distant places such as Vienna or Flanders.[28] As a consequence of this lordly remoteness, there is practically no documentation about the castle at all. the century.[27]​.

Privatization and abandonment (19th-20th centuries)

In the last years of the century, the noble family of Monroy began to have some concern about the poor management of their lands as a consequence of the urban life that the marquises had led. In the summer of 1795, Juan de Monroy's great-great-grandson, Joaquín Ginés de Oca, was dying. He had accumulated a dozen noble titles in addition to that of Marquis of Monroy. On the verge of dying without descendants, he attempted to leave Monroy repopulated by signing a Deed of Concord, in which the historical territory of the town ("Los Terms") was placed under a perpetual emphyteusis, in which the neighbors would have useful ownership of the entire land, paying the future marquises the eleventh part ("eleventh") of their production. The Deed of Concord came into force in 1802, when it was ratified by the Council of Castile.[32]​.

The payment of the "eleventh" began to be problematic throughout the first half of the century, when the abolition of manors occurred in Spain. The residents of the now municipality refused to pay the marquises, claiming that it was a tax from the abolished Old Regime. However, the marquises maintained that the seigneurial regime had been abolished in Monroy with the Deed of Concord of 1795, and what had existed since then was a common civil law ownership of the marquises over the lands, affected by a real right that regulated their use. The complicated political situation that the liberal revolutions were causing led to an endless lawsuit, so in the 1880s an agreement was reached that granted the "eleventh" income to the Monroy City Council, in exchange for temporary compensation to the marquises, who would maintain private properties in the municipal area.[32]​.

The main consequence of the "eleventh" lawsuits was that the castle of Monroy became private property, losing any administrative function that it could have had in the Old Regime. According to Madoz's dictionary, in the middle of the century it still belonged to the marquises and was inhabited by their dependents. Although this dictionary mentions it as a "solid" construction, it uses the word "vestiges" to refer to the moat and part of the exterior walls.[34]​.

The fact that the castle was private property had an important consequence: every time a marquis died, the medieval institution of mayorazgo was no longer applied to his inheritance, but rather the common civil law, so all assets ended up being distributed among several heirs, regardless of whether they were marquises or not. At the beginning of the century, the Cáceres noble Pablo Félix Arias de Saavedra had inherited the Marquisate of Monroy, without another additional noble title, when the last members of the main branch of the Monroys died without descendants. However, in 1827 Arias de Saavedra also died without issue, and in his will he left the marquisate in the hands of the Abraldes noble family, descendants of the Monroys through a branch of the Becerra noble family of Cáceres. The last Marquis of Monroy who was lord of the castle was Juan María de Varela y Abraldes, who died in 1891, also without issue.[1][33]​.

First historiographic descriptions (1912-1968)

In the years in which the Marquis of Cerralbo was the owner, some rehabilitation works were carried out on the castle, and this period has gone down in the history of the building for being the time in which its first known photographs were taken.[36][37] Likewise, the first historiographic document on the building was published in 1912. The Cáceres historian Publio Hurtado, who had experienced as an eyewitness the aforementioned riots in his city two decades before, included a brief summary of the history of the castle. castle in a book titled Castles, towers and strong houses of the province of Cáceres. He did not describe the castle, limiting himself to pointing out in a single line that "The fortress still exists, although somewhat damaged."[27]​[35][38]​ It was difficult at that time for a historian to visit in situ the Monroy castle, since at the beginning of the century there was no road in the municipal limits of the Four Places, and access to the area was exclusively through roads that were difficult to navigate.[39]​.

Due to the latter, the first detailed description known of the castle took place a decade after the death of the Marquis of Cerralbo. Taking advantage of the fact that the highway now known as EX-390 had just been built, the Ateneo de Cáceres organized its first excursion in February 1931, which took place from the city's main square to Monroy. This town had developed as an important town of almost three thousand inhabitants thanks to the benefits of the "eleventh", but until then it was an almost unknown place. Among the hikers was the Cauriense historian Tomás Martín Gil"), who collected in detail the monuments visited along the way, and published his story in 1932 in the Revista de Estudios Extremadura. This historian described in three paragraphs the visit to the outer precincts of the castle, publishing a photograph of the access from the square and another of the Renaissance gallery, and pointing out for the first time the presence of archaeological remains in the facilities. The hikers were not able to visit the interior of the fortress, since it was still part of a recumbent inheritance and was closed without anyone wanting to take charge of it.[40]​.

After the stoppage in cultural production caused by the Spanish Civil War, the castle was rescued from oblivion by Vicente Albarrán Murillo, a teacher who had been mayor of Santibáñez el Alto during the Second Republic, and who had been banished first to Millanes and later to Casar de Cáceres as part of the Franco purge, because he had moved local workers to occupy the lands of a family with which he was in conflict in the municipality he governed. During his last years working as a teacher in Casar de Cáceres, he dedicated himself to writing literary publications, among which he published in 1951 in the magazine a description of the ruined castle of Monroy, of which he included three photographs. This publication, more poetic than technical, had a protest against the state of ruin suffered by the castles in Spain. The publication was not a coincidence: it took place two years after a decree had been approved in 1949 that protected all these buildings as monuments, without apparently having a real intention to rebuild them, in the context of the post-war economic crisis.[41][42][43][44]​.

Reconstruction of Pablo Palazuelo (1970-1985)

The history of the castle changed radically in 1968, when the well-known artist Pablo Palazuelo saw an advertisement in a newspaper that the castle was still for sale, and immediately decided to buy it to carry out an experimental artistic project. Despite being in a partially ruined state, the price at which it was sold was about 750,000 pesetas; At that time, this was equivalent to the minimum wage of a person for a quarter of a century, something unaffordable for any inhabitant of this municipality, where a large emigration was taking place as a result of the lack of work and many residents were suffering from real hunger.[49]​.

The sale was formalized in 1970, and from then until 1985 the artist directed a comprehensive reconstruction and remodeling work. To do this, he followed historicist criteria of repristinization, trying to return the castle to the appearance it must have offered around 1600.[1]​ It was a notable work of reconstruction, in which a new tower was even built where, apparently, one wanted to be built in its origins.[16]​ The artist had such an obsession with rebuilding the castle that he carried out almost the entire initial phase of the restoration, in which about fifteen local masons worked, with his own money, since subsidies to the historical heritage did not They would become widespread in Spain until the autonomous communities assumed powers in this matter. Much later, public contributions would begin to arrive, as the authorities recognized that notable work was being done. In an interview in 1977, the artist complained that the work was leading him to financial ruin, but he did not seem to care much: according to those who spoke with him in the town, he was obsessed with the esotericism of the Order of the Temple and believed that the castle had been built with an astronomical orientation, following the traditions that said order had implanted in the area.[49][50]​.

In the first years, a project of excavations and demolitions was drawn up, which was carried out meticulously and with extreme care, in order to investigate its true architectural history. In this way, its first and original traces of a fortress from the 19th century were certainly discovered, as well as its transformation into a palace-fort in the 19th century. The extent of the less convenient interventions carried out in the 17th to 19th centuries also became known. In the reconstruction and restoration works, the same materials that were used for its construction were used: sand from the mines and stone and lime from the same quarries. Authentic pieces found in excavations and demolitions were reproduced, and the original traces were maintained, reconstructing their proportions, volumes and surface. In an attempt to complete the original appearance, in 1978 Minister Pío Cabanillas authorized procedures to expropriate the two existing homes on the corner of the main square, which could not be carried out due to the administrative chaos caused by the Transition.[51]​.

Contenido

La fortaleza se articula mediante tres recintos concéntricos de forma cuadrada: uno exterior o barbacana; otro interior; y un tercero constituido por el inmueble principal. Además, entre la barbacana y el inmueble principal existen varios patios, jardines, zona de huertos, lavadero y dependencias varias.[1]​.

El conjunto está construido mediante mampostería, sillería, así como cantería y ladrillo en zonas como recercos, principalmente. Las diferentes plantas se separan mediante bóvedas y forjados de madera. Además, debido a las obras de reconstrucción acometidas, también existen numerosos elementos constructivos contemporáneos.[1]​.

Exterior fence or barbican

Externally, a large barbican of ashlar and masonry surrounds the complex. This barbican was restored in the 2010s, after having been repaired for years in many sections with a wall of industrial concrete blocks, which until then made the castle courtyard look more like an orchard than a medieval fortress. Several holes open in this fence that give access to the fortification, some more monumental and others simpler.[1]​.

The main access door, both due to location and artistic character, is the one that opens towards the east in the Plaza de España. It consists of two cylindrical towers that frame two semicircular arches at different heights, the lower one containing the access door. Two walkways with merlons are located above both arches.[1]​ This access is an imitation of the San Vicente gate of the wall of Ávila. The current main door was designed in the early years of the century by a castle administrator of Avilés origin, and a mason from Monroy built it with such quality that it was mistakenly confused with a true historical door.[52]​.

The other door with some decoration opens on Calle de las Artes, where there is a semicircular stone opening with decorative pometado on its fascias. The rest of the entrances have no artistic interest: a simple garage door opens in a gap in the wall in front of the doctor's office, while several lintel doors and a small window form openings in the western wall. Inside the fortification there are remains of structures that indicate that at the back there must have been an access road to the castle, through a door that is now blocked up.[1]​.

In general, this barbican was for centuries a simple delimitation wall, which explains the low amount of artistic elements: only the two aforementioned artistic doors break its simplicity, as well as a square crenellated tower located at the eastern end of Calle de las Artes, which is the only element that directly connects the inner fence with the outer one. Due to the lack of artistic interest, buildings have been built around the medical office that currently interrupt the course of the barbican: a two-story house on the corner of the Plaza de España, and some disused corrals a few meters west of said house.[1]​.

Interior of the fortification

The interior of the fortification is structured around a second almost square-shaped fence, located in the easternmost part of the enclosure delimited by the aforementioned barbican. This "second enclosure" houses the castle itself, but it is not the only structure to take into account, as it coexists with various other facilities. Firstly, from the main access of the exterior fence you enter a space that functions as an anteroom to said "second enclosure". On the left hand side from the entrance, a space is visible between the barbican and the barrier wall in which a curb corresponding, perhaps, to a cistern is located. On the right hand side, there was a house with a facade to the square that was demolished during the restoration of the barbican in the 2010s, expanding the space of this anteroom with this demolition.[1]​.

Behind this space is the eastern side of the second wall or barrier of the enclosure, about five meters high, on which there is a promenade. This wall that facilitates access to the "second enclosure" is accessible on this side through an open hole, which in the 2010s was covered with a large Corten steel lintel, and which probably replaces an old missing door. The barrier has embrasures, and in this section of wall there are also three case-hammered gunboats with interior and exterior spills. This section is limited to the north by a square crenellated tower, next to which is a smaller cube with a pyramidal roof "Pyramid (geometry)"); Currently this tower, except for the cube, is the only historical element that is not part of the cadastral plot of the castle, since it is attached to the two-story house with views of the aforementioned Plaza de España. At the other limit of the section, to the south, is the square tower mentioned above that faces the outside on Calle de las Artes. Both towers, very similar in appearance, are only two meters higher than the wall, and each has a single access opening to the roof from the promenade. Pablo Palazuelo's restoration eliminated some decorative turrets that had been added to these towers.[1][53]​.

Crossing the barrier, you access the parade ground, where the main building of the complex is located, as well as a low-rise adjacent masonry building that closes the patio in its northern part. This building was the barn and is the space that was converted into the studio of the painter Pablo Palazuelo. From the square towers of the barrier already mentioned, the wall extends forming a square that surrounds the main building. According to archaeological excavations, it does not seem that in the western corners there have been towers similar to those in the eastern corners, which is explained because the terrain to the west is more inclined and therefore easier to defend; However, in the northwest corner, remains of a small diameter cylindrical structure were found, corresponding to a bastion. There is a cave or pit excavated in the rock located between the barbican and the barrier on its north, south and west sides, but which must have completely surrounded the main building at the time.[1][54]​.

Exterior of the main building

The appearance of the castle externally is a building with a square, crenellated plan, with pentagonal towers emerging from the corners. The coverage of the four bays "Crujía (architecture)") is terraced "Terrace (architecture)"). The main façade is located to the east, facing the current main entrance door. This is flanked by the NE and SE towers, whose upper parts protrude slightly as a cantilever. Both towers have few windows. On the façade, on the masonry and ashlar facing, there is a semicircular entrance opening, with stone voussoirs and the date 1329, as well as a shield over the keystone of the arch "Key (architecture)") dating back to the 19th century.[1][57]​.

Above this door, but at a much higher height, on the walkway, is a machicolation with its thief's shed. Four small loopholes are distributed along the façade on both floors. The southeast tower is one of the three historic towers of the castle and receives two different names: "of the Clock" (traditional name in the town, since it had a tower clock in the 19th century) or "of the Dungeon" (name by which Pablo Palazuelo referred to it, because the dungeons of the castle "Dungeon (prison)") are located on its ground floor). The northeast tower is completely new: Pablo Palazuelo had it built with a symmetrical shape to the previously mentioned one, when it was discovered in the archaeological excavation that there had been another tower here of which only the foundations remained.[1][57]​.

Although the east façade is the main one because it faces the square, artistically the one on the south front that faces Arts Street is more notable, a monumental façade of a Renaissance palace type. This consists of a two-story loggia "Lodge (architecture)". In the lower one, of great height, two very slender "Column (architecture)") columns of compound order support three semicircular arches. Internally, the openings on the ground floor are contemporary, imitating Gothic models. On the upper floor of the loggia, two low columns form three lowered arches, within which there is a viewpoint. This gallery is the best-known part of the palace reform of the century; It is believed that it was built on a free-standing wall, since in medieval times the entrance to the fortress must have been on this side, connecting the exit of the town to the south with the parade ground inside the castle, in line with the drawbridge.[1][58]​.

This palatial façade is delimited in the southeast corner by the tower previously mentioned as "the Clock" or "the Dungeon", but the one located in the southwest corner, known colloquially as the "Tower of Martyrdom", stands out much more. It has been identified as the keep of the castle because it is the only one of the four towers that is not aligned with the walls of the wall, and because it also houses a chapel inside. In this main tower there are several openings at different heights, very simple, and a door that allows access from the outside. In this tower there are also remains of machicolations, currently in disuse and without any access from the tower.[1]​[59]​.

Interior of the main building

The main fortress building is internally structured around a small rectangular patio, in the center of which stands a square curb that preserves its original metal posts. This patio is currently accessed through the door on the eastern façade, shaped like a semicircular arch, which inside is framed under a large stone arch, also semicircular but of great height. This large arch forms a kind of hallway inside that supports the upper floor, where a gallery is located in which a right wooden foot supports the wooden cover. From this landing a staircase, attached to the south wall, descends to the patio. In this space, in its lower part, you can access the north and south bays "Crujía (architecture)") on the ground floor through semicircular arches.[1][62]​.

On the northern flank of the patio, several windows, some of them with inscribed ogee arches, and a door with a balcony, open into the plastered wall. Some of the openings have bars "Reja (architecture)") of interest, as well as a wrought iron balcony, also of value. There are also several holes in the south wall.[1][62]​.

But the most decorated interior façade is the west one. In this, several holes are notable, of different sizes, with square and ogee shapes. Among the openings, those that have the shape of an ogee arch stand out, such as the entrance door on the ground floor and that of a balcony window on the first floor, as well as that of a lowered arch on the ground floor, the latter two equipped with artistic bars. All of these openings have Renaissance plant-type decoration in their arches. A shield is located on the upper floor. The layout and decoration of this wall imitate the appearance of a palatial public road façade, indicating that the main palatial core is accessed here.[1]​[63]​.

Once you access the building by entering through the western wall of the patio, you will find a lobby covered by a wooden coffered ceiling, with an imposing stone staircase with a balustrade railing. This staircase culminates on the second floor in a monumental doorway, which consists of a semicircular arch flanked by two molded pilasters topped with a shallow capital. The cover is decorated with Renaissance-type plant elements. Entering this wing, through the aforementioned doorway, the staircase continues to the left and in the opposite direction: at the end of this second flight of stairs, there is another doorway made of an ogee arch with Renaissance putti heads, which gives access to the noble rooms. According to the hypothesis of local historians Sierra Simón and García Jiménez, the sculptural work of the building corresponds, due to its elemental continuity throughout the property, to a single author or workshop; At the time, it was most likely made by the same sculptors from Trujillo (Spain) who in the first third of the century were working on the church of Santa Catalina "Iglesia de Santa Catalina (Monroy)").[1][64]​.

Chapel

The interior of the keep houses the castle chapel, consisting of a small room, covered by a pointed barrel vault. It must have been completely covered with wall paintings, of which only two remain today. In the first of them, above the access door, a cross appears with the vase of lilies, the characteristic emblem of the Virgin Mary "Mary (mother of Jesus)"), in its center; The anagram "MS" appears on the right arm; On the left arm appears a bird, perhaps an eagle, symbol of the rise of prayer "Prayer (religion)").[1]​[65]​.

The other paintings are located around a credence or tabernacle inscribed on the right wall, with fleurs-de-lis decorating its angles. On the left hand side is written "IHS", and on the right side, "XPS", that is, the acronyms for Jesus Christ the Savior in Latin and Greek. A small Alcántara cross is also painted on the credence, while at the bottom you can see a braided cross.[1]​[66]​.

Cuando la Junta de Extremadura publicó la incoación del segundo expediente de bien de interés cultural en 2024, hizo pública una lista de elementos de interés arquitectónico o arqueológico que se conservan acopiados en los espacios abiertos del bien. En general, la mayoría de ellos son bienes muebles o elementos arquitectónicos procedentes de la propia construcción (piezas de granito) que aparecen desplazados de su ubicación original. Aunque la Junta los clasifica según su ubicación, a efectos más informativos pueden distinguirse cinco categorías entre las piedras catalogadas: cinco inscripciones epigráficas en latín, tres escudos "Escudo (heráldica)"), dos verracos, cuatro objetos relacionados con el agua y diez conjuntos clasificados de restos pétreos dispersos. Además, se conservan planos y dibujos arquitectónicos realizados por Pablo Palazuelo y su hermano arquitecto Juan Palazuelo, referentes a las diferentes reformas arquitectónicas acometidas en el edificio, que la Junta de Extremadura también considera parte inseparable del bien de interés cultural.[1]​.

Latin epigraphy

The Junta de Extremadura has cataloged five Latin inscriptions housed in stones from the castle.[1]​ To understand its location, it must be taken into account that the area around the Four Places was an area where rustic settlements proliferated in Ancient Rome, as its flat terrain facilitated the development of livestock farming. In the territory of this municipality, the Roman villa of Los Terminos de Monroy stands out, an important late Roman archaeological site from the 4th-5th centuries. Likewise, remains of Roman settlements have been found in the surroundings of the hermitage of Santa Ana "Ermita de Santa Ana (Monroy)"), in the nearby area of Las Paredes del Moro and on the farms of Tejarejo de Saliente, La Ventosilla and Parapuños, all in the current municipality of Monroy.[67]​ The area was completely rural in Roman times and, as archaeological investigations have deduced from the epigraphy, it was part of the northeastern limit of the territorium of the Norba Caesarina colony, so a part of the current municipality of Monroy would have belonged to this colony and the easternmost part to the neighboring municipality of Turgalium.[68]​ The presence of Roman settlements was key to the decision to build a large castle here, as they provided a great abundance of stone and it is not ruled out that part of the building is built with remains of one of these settlements.[69]​.

A Roman inscription has been cataloged in the eastern courtyard of the fortress, corresponding to record 6509 of Hispania Epigraphica. It was found in 1970 in the area of ​​Las Aguzaderas, corresponding to the surroundings of the aforementioned Roman villa, located about 5 km from the town center of the town. It was discovered by local young people Santiago García and José María Sierra, who reported the discovery to the well-known researcher Carlos Callejo Serrano, who was in charge of its inspection and dissemination. It is a stele "Stele (monument)") that is carved in light granite, with a rounded head and broken at the bottom, measuring 83x49x24 cm. Due to the chronology of the discovery, coinciding with the restoration of the castle, it must have been kept here at the initiative of Pablo Palazuelo, as the surroundings of the Roman villa were an unsafe place for such a remarkable stone. The stele houses the funerary inscription of Suriaco Turánez, a name of Celtic origin, accompanying his name with a solar disk. The inscription, which could continue later due to the worn base, states the following:[1]​[70]​.

For its part, four other inscriptions have been cataloged in the western courtyard of the fortress, corresponding to records 20358 to 20361 of Hispania Epigraphica. Unlike the previous one, these stones are in worse condition, are generally less legible and come from the castle itself. The four were investigated by archaeologists José Manuel Iglesias and José Luis Sánchez, in the context of the excavations that took place during the investigation prior to the restoration.[71] These four stones from the castle are the following, numbered according to the record of Hispania Epigraphica:[1]​.

• - Inscription 20358. It is a slate stele "Slate (rock)"), broken at the top and found in deplorable conditions. The little legible that has been transcribed is the following:[72]​.

• - Inscription 20359. It must have been a rectangular block, taking into account that the text begins and ends abruptly at the edges of the stone, without margins. It is a votive offering to the Roman goddess Bellona, ​​highly venerated in the area of ​​Turgalium:[73]​.

• - Inscription 20360. It was found in the excavations of the moat. It is a rectangular granite altar that preserves the right pulvino, dedicated by a woman called Adercia to a god. Its illegibility led to the deity's name originally being considered a hapax; However, in 2006 Juan Carlos Olivares, professor at the University of Alicante, reinterpreted the inscription indicating that it was dedicated to the Celtic god Bandua"). The original and revised transcriptions are as follows:[74].

• - Inscription 20361. It is a granite stele, roughly carved and broken at the bottom, where only the following is read:[1]​.

Shields

In the courtyards of the castle there are three historical stone shields "Escudo (heraldry)") cataloged by the Junta de Extremadura. All of them are considered assets of cultural interest "Asset of cultural interest (Spain)") in themselves, as they are protected by the second additional provision of the Historical and Cultural Heritage Law of Extremadura of 1999.[75]​.

The first of them is a shield carved in stone, rounded at its base as is characteristic from the 19th century onwards. Barracks "Barracks (heraldry)"), the dexterous barracks of the chief "Chief (heraldry)") consists of a crenellated castle "Castle (heraldry)") with a gate; the chief's sinister quarter contains four bands "Band (heraldry)") on which are placed eleven unidentified pieces; The right and left quarters of the "Campaign (heraldry)" points contain numerous pieces that are difficult to read; in the middle, a pointed escutcheon containing nine sticks "Palo (heraldry)") gules.[1]​.

For its part, in another patio there is another shield carved in stone, finished in a point, characteristic before the 19th century. Barracks: The chief's dexterous barracks displays five waving "Sash (Heraldry)") sashes; the boss's sinister quarter is a bar "Bar (heraldry)"); The right quarter of the tip is formed by four horizontal bands, while the sinister quarter of the tip is made up of five pieces.[1]​.

In the same patio as the latter there is a third shield carved in stone which, like the first mentioned, is rounded at its base, characteristic from the 1st century onwards. However, this shield suffers from wear and tear that prevents its content from being read.[1]​.

Boars

Likewise, inside the castle there are two zoomorphic sculptures known as "boars", associated with pre-Roman art, in particular, with the Veto culture. It actually corresponds to a complete piece and a fragment of another, the anterior part of the representation of the animal. In both cases, their origin has been related to the Villasviejas del Tamuja fort, in the Cáceres municipality of Botija "Botija (Cáceres)"), from where other examples of this type of sculptures come. Both would have appeared in "enclosure B" or south of the site, next to the door, and have been classified as "type 2." José Cuervo's general inventory of boars catalogs them with numbers 231 and 232.[1]​[76]​[77]​.

The one that represents a complete figure is the number 232. Sculpted in a block of granite, it represents a bull, with dimensions of 76x40x40 cm. It is in good condition, although it has a break in the snout and limbs at the knees. On some occasions, it has been related to another piece that still remains in the vicinity of the same pre-Roman settlement, specifically a possible pedestal.[1]​[77]​[78]​.

For its part, the number 231 represents a pig, measuring 70×55×45 cm. Of this other piece of granite, barely the front part of the sculpture is preserved, corresponding to the head and front legs of the animal, and also with a break in the snout. However, the eyes and ears are clearly visible. Additionally, as a detail, a snake is recognized engraved between the jaw and the leg.[1][76]​.

Both boars were found by chance around the 1970s, when a party wall collapsed on a farm in Botija near the aforementioned site, belonging to a private individual named Victoriano García. Upon finding a notable granite stone in an area where the walls are usually made of slate "Slate (rock)") and argillite, the owner contacted archaeologists Juan Valverde and Jaime Río-Miranda, from the Valdeobispo Cultural Group, who in 1981 publicly confirmed the discovery and made the two figures known. Considering the chronology of the discovery, the idea of acquiring the pieces to conserve them in the castle must have come from Pablo Palazuelo himself, since the discovery coincides in time with the restoration that the artist carried out in the building.[79]​ Despite their recent incorporation into the castle, in 2024 the Government of Extremadura declared both boars as movable property linked to the fortress,[1]​ as they are better preserved here than in their original location, since the castro of Villasviejas del Tamuja is located in a rustic area where the boars could be damaged by the transit of careless tourists.[80]​.

water stones

The Junta de Extremadura has cataloged the following four objects related to water:[1]​.

• - Baptismal font of the eastern patio. It is a hollow, hemispherical piece on a solid cylindrical base, made of a single block of granite. It shows a border with double curved thickening and decoration based on oblique lines in relief, which cover the surface between it and the base.

• - Baptismal font in the western courtyard. It is a hollow, cylindrical piece with a stepped narrowing towards the base, which serves as a foot. The edge is curved, slightly thickened, separated from the rest of the surface by a marked indentation below it. It has an evacuation hole at the bottom.

• - Well curb. Corresponding to the eastern patio, it is a prismatic piece of hexagonal shape, made of a single block of granite, pierced, with the interior being circular. The base, with a quadrangular plan, shows triangular elements that allow the transition between one geometry and another. The upper edge shows high wear, as a result of its use as a curb.

• - Battery or source. It is a monolithic piece of granite from the western courtyard. The upper part, which constitutes the tank or vessel itself, is hemispherical in shape, supported by a slender truncated pyramidal foot. It shows some decoration in relief, extremely worn or weathered, highlighting the angles and horizontal moldings that perhaps mark the transition towards the base and at mid-height.

scattered stones

The Junta de Extremadura has cataloged the following ten sets of scattered stones:[1]​.

• - Set No. 1 of the north patio. Large slabs "Laja (rock)") of slate, up to 1.5 m in length, and granite blocks of various sizes and shapes. Among them are ashlars, possible door jambs and arch voussoirs.

• - Complex No. 1 of the east patio. Lintel and window jambs, with remains of wrought iron grille insertion.

• - Complex No. 2 of the east patio. Granite pieces corresponding to the doorway with a semicircular arch. They are placed on the floor of the patio, in an orderly manner, in accordance with their presumed original layout.

• - Complex No. 1 at the foot of the southeast tower in the east courtyard. Large slate slabs and pieces of decorated stonework, two of them probably pilaster "Drum (architecture)" drums.

• - Complex No. 2 at the foot of the southeast tower in the east courtyard. Large slabs of slate, up to 1.5 m in length, and granite blocks of various sizes and shapes. Among them are ashlars, possible door jambs and arch voussoirs.

• - Complex No. 1 next to the southern entrance to the fortress. Collection of large pieces of granite, probably thresholds "Threshold (architecture)") of doors, some with simple moldings under the edge of the tread. They appear stacked.

• - Complex No. 2 next to the southern entrance to the fortress. Collection of slate slabs and regular pieces of granite next to the corner of the SE tower of the castle. They must have corresponded to paving, thresholds and other architectural elements.

• - Complex No. 3 next to the southern entrance to the fortress. Scatter of granite pieces, mostly ashlars, among which possible thresholds, door jambs, columns, pilasters, lattices "Celosía (architecture)"), decorated corbels, among others. Except for certain concentrations, these elements, located in the gardens or orchard in the western part of the enclosure, do not show the collection detected in other areas of the fortress.

• - Granite columns next to the western access to the main body of the fortress. Two elements made of a single, narrow, cylindrical block, perhaps one meter high, that includes a shaft decorated with fine vertical grooves, extremely worn, on a quadrangular base and simple curved molding. It ends at the top with a kind of capital with a wide vertical slit or lace, probably intended to support a horizontal piece.

• - Capital decorated with leaves next to the western access to the main body of the fortress. Small piece of granite – approximately 30 cm –, truncated pyramidal shape. It presents vegetal decoration in relief based on acanthus leaves "Acanthus (decoration)") highly schematized in the angles. It is part of one of the collections of decontextualized construction material.

Like all other castles in Spain, Monroy is declared an asset of cultural interest "Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain)") by the Decree of April 22, 1949.[44] The initial objective of the restoration carried out by Pablo Palazuelo, as he explained in a conference in Cáceres in 1979, was to establish a center for young artists with an open workshop in Monroy castle. This project could not be carried out because the artist first needed to be able to finish the restoration, which he was paying for with his own money at a time when public subsidies did not yet exist.[81]​.

It was from 1987, with Palazuelo already half-retired and retired from Monroy without having been able to complete his project, when the public authorities began to take a real interest in the situation of the castle. At the end of that year, the Extremadura Government issued a resolution initiating a file to declare a property of specific cultural interest for the Monroy castle. The castle itself already had that status since 1949; What was intended with this file was to create a landscape protection zone that would include the entire Plaza de España and all those buildings that had a façade in front of the fortification in the surrounding streets.[82] Although said file was not continued, the delimitation of the castle and its surroundings remained, and the property was registered, provisionally, in the Registry of Assets of Cultural Interest of the Ministry of Culture "Ministry of Culture (Spain)"), with code 8179.[1]​.

In the years following this file, Pablo Palazuelo continued to visit Monroy, but mainly on vacation visits and sporadically. Around 1993-1994, when the painter was almost eighty years old, he explained to the residents of the town his intention to create a foundation "Foundation (law)") to create a permanent exhibition of paintings in the castle. The big problem that Palazuelo had was the same that other owners of the castle had had throughout history: his not very open character had left him without direct descendants, so he entrusted the management of this foundation to his nephew, the well-known diplomat José Rodríguez-Spiteri. The foundation could facilitate the carrying out of new reconstruction works in the following decades, when there was already public aid for the conservation of monuments.[49]​[50]​.

Despite the notable effort of Palazuelo's successors to continue his work, which was reflected in important subsequent restorations, the castle is geographically located three hundred kilometers from Madrid, the place of origin of the artist's family and still today the headquarters of his foundation, with the added problem that the last forty kilometers that separate Monroy from the Madrid highway are along a complicated rural road. This geographical distance between the property and the building has caused it to fall into disuse for four decades, with complaints about it being common from the residents of the town: a few days after the artist's death in 2007, the neighbors were already demanding in the press that the castle be permanently opened to the public.[49][83]​.

In 2022, the Junta de Extremadura proceeded to prepare a technical report to restart the 1987 file, which led to the publication of a new initiation in 2024. The new file for declaration of property of cultural interest not only includes the castle and its surroundings, but also a more detailed description of the property and delimitation and a review of the movable property associated with this property.[1]​ This restart of the file coincides with the presence of relatives of Palazuelo in the nearby area. city of Cáceres, where they intend to open a five-star hotel in the Godoy palace "Palacio de Godoy (Cáceres)"), which has given rise to speculation in the local press about a possible new use of the Monroyego castle.

• - Marquisate of Monroy.

• - Belvís de Monroy Castle.

• - Pablo Palazuelo.

• - This article includes content derived from a provision relating to the process of protection, initiation or declaration of a cultural or natural asset published in the Official State Gazette No. 90 on April 12, 2024 (), which is free of known restrictions under copyright in accordance with the provisions of article 13 of the Spanish Intellectual Property Law.

• - This article includes content derived from a provision relating to the process of protection, initiation or declaration of a cultural or natural asset published in the Official State Gazette No. 96 on April 22, 1978 (), which is free of known restrictions under copyright in accordance with the provisions of article 13 of the Spanish Intellectual Property Law.