Contenido

Los restos localizados se corresponden con un tramo de muralla con cuatro torres, foso con parte de la barbacana y la llamada puerta de Gibraltar o del Fonsario, construcción exenta a la muralla que permitía el paso a la ciudad. La Puerta de Gibraltar poseía dos puentes que permitía el paso del foso a la puerta y de la puerta a la liza; durante las excavaciones también se localizó un cementerio con varias fases de ocupación, citado en las fuentes medievales.[1]​.

Wall

Approximately 200 meters are preserved and the towers are integrated in the northern part and homes in the southern part except in the area near the door that was free. The height of the wall is unknown and whether the towers would be flush with it, it is also unknown whether they would be crenellated or not; The width of the wall at its beginning is from one and a half to two meters; It is built with a mortar core covered with courses of masonry.[4]​.

Towers

The four towers present in the park are built with masonry walls covered with well-carved ashlars in a truncated-pyramidal shape to fit better into the structure of the mortar core. The dimensions of the preserved remains are about seven meters on a side and just two meters high.[4] One meter from the elevation you can see the courses of masonry removed by the destroyers of the city in 1379 with the aim of collapsing the structure and causing it to fall. Numerous stonemason marks are preserved on the ashlars that demonstrate the work of several groups of workers from Castile and Aragon.[5]​.

The towers are separated from each other about 20 meters. The preserved remains show the core of the towers, meaning that they were solid, and the most common thing was that the towers had been hollow from a certain height. Between some of the towers there is a very poorly made mortar wall that was initially interpreted as an attempt to repair the wall sections destroyed during the last siege of the city in 1344 or a reinforcement for them.

Pit

The moat has a complete scarp and counterscarp in almost its entire length, both were built with lime and stone with ashlar masonry smaller than that of the towers, it has a varying width between 8.20 and 4.40 meters and about 3 meters deep.

Escarpment and counterescarpment of the moat serve as the base for the barbican and the parapet respectively. No remains of the parapet are preserved but it is assumed that it should not have exceeded one and a half meters and was built of limestone. The barbican, on the other hand, has been studied in depth. It was located between 12.5 and 18 meters from the wall and rose about 2 meters from the list. than those of the towers.[4]​.

The moat surrounds the Gate of Gibraltar on all sides, forming a right-angled fork. The passage to the gate was made through a well-built single-eye bridge that is practically intact. Its dimensions are 3.5 meters wide and seven meters long; The passage from the gate to the fighting area, already close to the wall, was carried out by means of a second bridge, also with a single span although with a smaller span than the previous one, which has not been completely excavated.

Door

The so-called Puerta de Gibraltar, perhaps called in the sources Bab Tarafa or Puerta del Fonsario,[6]​ is a monumental defensive complex formed by a forward tower whose purpose was to prevent entry to the city through one of its weakest points, through a complex system of angled gates. The walls were built with a calicanto core covered with ashlars of which a height of between 1.10 meters and 35 centimeters is preserved and delimit a total of three cobbled rooms connected by doors.[7]​ According to the remains, the upper area of ​​the door could be accessed by stairs of which the starting point remains.

Cemetery

The excavations carried out in the northern area of ​​the archaeological park allowed the discovery of a cemetery that was known but that had never been excavated. In total, four phases of occupation of the cemetery were documented from the century until its abandonment in 1379, the year of the city's destruction. The discovery of up to one hundred and thirty-seven burials revealed what was probably the most important cemetery in the Islamic city; Seventy percent of the burials correspond to simple graves without any type of associated structure, the rest are graves with tile roofs or small mqabriyyas probably corresponding to important families of the city. In the Gibraltar Gate cemetery, several green-glazed stone steles appeared during the excavations that are supposed to delimit the tombs or perhaps sections of the cemetery and that have become symbols of the Arab city.[8]​.

After several negotiations between the city council and the Andalusian Government, in 2000 it was achieved that the remains were valued for museum purposes. The partial reconstruction of the towers and the wall was carried out with architectural remains located in the same site. In this way, the height of these elements was increased to just over two meters; Only tower 4, the easternmost of those located, was preserved as it was discovered. In this way it would be possible to see how the walls were demolished by seeing the four courses of ashlars dismantled for this purpose. The barbican, the Gibraltar Gate and the moat were also partly rebuilt and stabilized. The sandstone and adjacent areas were treated with waterproof fabric in order to prevent the growth of weeds, a path and two accesses were built, one from Blas Infante Avenue and the other from the promenade. The set is completed with the exhibition of various unique architectural elements located in the place and difficult to locate such as moldings; Three metal containers were also built that house part of the numerous stone bolaños found in the place corresponding to the catapults used by the Christians of Alfonso XI during the siege of 1344.

• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Archaeological Park of the Merinid Walls of Algeciras.

Contenido

Los restos localizados se corresponden con un tramo de muralla con cuatro torres, foso con parte de la barbacana y la llamada puerta de Gibraltar o del Fonsario, construcción exenta a la muralla que permitía el paso a la ciudad. La Puerta de Gibraltar poseía dos puentes que permitía el paso del foso a la puerta y de la puerta a la liza; durante las excavaciones también se localizó un cementerio con varias fases de ocupación, citado en las fuentes medievales.[1]​.

Wall

Approximately 200 meters are preserved and the towers are integrated in the northern part and homes in the southern part except in the area near the door that was free. The height of the wall is unknown and whether the towers would be flush with it, it is also unknown whether they would be crenellated or not; The width of the wall at its beginning is from one and a half to two meters; It is built with a mortar core covered with courses of masonry.[4]​.

Towers

The four towers present in the park are built with masonry walls covered with well-carved ashlars in a truncated-pyramidal shape to fit better into the structure of the mortar core. The dimensions of the preserved remains are about seven meters on a side and just two meters high.[4] One meter from the elevation you can see the courses of masonry removed by the destroyers of the city in 1379 with the aim of collapsing the structure and causing it to fall. Numerous stonemason marks are preserved on the ashlars that demonstrate the work of several groups of workers from Castile and Aragon.[5]​.

The towers are separated from each other about 20 meters. The preserved remains show the core of the towers, meaning that they were solid, and the most common thing was that the towers had been hollow from a certain height. Between some of the towers there is a very poorly made mortar wall that was initially interpreted as an attempt to repair the wall sections destroyed during the last siege of the city in 1344 or a reinforcement for them.

Pit

The moat has a complete scarp and counterscarp in almost its entire length, both were built with lime and stone with ashlar masonry smaller than that of the towers, it has a varying width between 8.20 and 4.40 meters and about 3 meters deep.

Escarpment and counterescarpment of the moat serve as the base for the barbican and the parapet respectively. No remains of the parapet are preserved but it is assumed that it should not have exceeded one and a half meters and was built of limestone. The barbican, on the other hand, has been studied in depth. It was located between 12.5 and 18 meters from the wall and rose about 2 meters from the list. than those of the towers.[4]​.

The moat surrounds the Gate of Gibraltar on all sides, forming a right-angled fork. The passage to the gate was made through a well-built single-eye bridge that is practically intact. Its dimensions are 3.5 meters wide and seven meters long; The passage from the gate to the fighting area, already close to the wall, was carried out by means of a second bridge, also with a single span although with a smaller span than the previous one, which has not been completely excavated.

Door

The so-called Puerta de Gibraltar, perhaps called in the sources Bab Tarafa or Puerta del Fonsario,[6]​ is a monumental defensive complex formed by a forward tower whose purpose was to prevent entry to the city through one of its weakest points, through a complex system of angled gates. The walls were built with a calicanto core covered with ashlars of which a height of between 1.10 meters and 35 centimeters is preserved and delimit a total of three cobbled rooms connected by doors.[7]​ According to the remains, the upper area of ​​the door could be accessed by stairs of which the starting point remains.

Cemetery

The excavations carried out in the northern area of ​​the archaeological park allowed the discovery of a cemetery that was known but that had never been excavated. In total, four phases of occupation of the cemetery were documented from the century until its abandonment in 1379, the year of the city's destruction. The discovery of up to one hundred and thirty-seven burials revealed what was probably the most important cemetery in the Islamic city; Seventy percent of the burials correspond to simple graves without any type of associated structure, the rest are graves with tile roofs or small mqabriyyas probably corresponding to important families of the city. In the Gibraltar Gate cemetery, several green-glazed stone steles appeared during the excavations that are supposed to delimit the tombs or perhaps sections of the cemetery and that have become symbols of the Arab city.[8]​.

After several negotiations between the city council and the Andalusian Government, in 2000 it was achieved that the remains were valued for museum purposes. The partial reconstruction of the towers and the wall was carried out with architectural remains located in the same site. In this way, the height of these elements was increased to just over two meters; Only tower 4, the easternmost of those located, was preserved as it was discovered. In this way it would be possible to see how the walls were demolished by seeing the four courses of ashlars dismantled for this purpose. The barbican, the Gibraltar Gate and the moat were also partly rebuilt and stabilized. The sandstone and adjacent areas were treated with waterproof fabric in order to prevent the growth of weeds, a path and two accesses were built, one from Blas Infante Avenue and the other from the promenade. The set is completed with the exhibition of various unique architectural elements located in the place and difficult to locate such as moldings; Three metal containers were also built that house part of the numerous stone bolaños found in the place corresponding to the catapults used by the Christians of Alfonso XI during the siege of 1344.

• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Archaeological Park of the Merinid Walls of Algeciras.