OLD CÁCERIES

Inside its Arab walls, it gathers a group of Gothic and Renaissance noble houses, unique in Spain for its homogeneity. The noble houses, built in the 15th and 16th centuries, have smooth ochre-colored facades, without decoration, reflecting the knights who once lived there. After passing through the Arco de la Estrella (Arch of the Star), cut into the wall in the 18th century by Manuel Churriguera, we reach the Plaza Santa María, the center of old Cáceres. It is long and offers many perspectives on the ochre facades of the Mayoralgo Palace and the Episcopal Palace. It is worth mentioning the Santa María church, a 16th century building that serves as a cathedral. The three Gothic naves, of almost identical height, have lierne and tierceron vaults that continue in the elegant engaged columns of the pillars. To the left of the church of Santa María stands the Carvajal Palace, flanked by a 15th century tower, which can be visited. This building also houses the tourist office of the province of Cáceres. And to the right of the church the Palacio de los Golfines de Abajo combines Gothic, Plateresque and Mudejar styles. To its left, the Plaza San Jorge, dominated by the austere façade of the church of San Francisco Javier, was built by the Jesuits in the 18th century. A little further on, the church of San Mateo offers a very uncluttered spectacle. The high Gothic nave, begun in the fourteenth century, had an alto coro added to it in the sixteenth century, supported by a basket-handle arch. Opposite the church of San Mateo, we can admire the Casa de las Cigüenas, whose crenellated tower is the only one in Cáceres that escaped the dismantling ordered at the end of the 15th century. A little further on is the Casa de las Veletas (House of the Weathervanes and seat of the Provincial Museum), built on the site of the Moorish citadel, of which the Arab cistern(aljibe) remains, still fed since the 11th century by the water flowing from the roof and the sloping square. To the south, we come across the Casa del Comendador de Alcuescar, a palace with a beautiful Gothic tower that now houses the tourist information center. Following the alley that runs along the walls, we come to the noble and austere façade of the Palacio de los Golfines de Arriba. Built in the 14th century, it is one of the most imposing palaces in old Cáceres due to its fortress-like shape. It was here that General Franco proclaimed himself "generalissimo" and head of state in October 1936.