Extremadura Guide Eng 2016

They are centuries of distributing lands between the new owners of the zone and most part of the lands were entrusted to Military Orders that will control these regions absolutely, such is the case of the ones of The Temple , Alcántara , Santiago or Calatrava , real introductories and controllers of any artistic or cultural movement, usually coming from the peninsular north. Furthermore, it is hardly surprising the fact that the most important nucleus of the north of the Extremaduran region are those which possess the best examples of Romanesque or Proto-Gothic art, over all the ones in Plasencia and in its admirable cathedral and finding excel- lent examples in other localities, such as Trujillo, Alcántara or Alburquerque. In addition to that, the Romanesque statues have some examples of artistic-historical interest, in which Virgen de Guadalupe , dated back to XII century or Virgen del Sagrario in the cathedral of Plasencia stand out among the rest. The Muslim culture that had prevailed in Extremadu- ra, from VIII until XIII century, still kept on leaving its influence in a discrete way in civil, military and religious buildings over all, thanks to an artistic style with unques- tionable Almohad features. We refer to the Mudejar art. This style would appear in lands of Extremadura deeply, lands dominated by the Order of Santiago in the provinces of Badajoz and in the localities around the Monastery of Guadalupe . Therefore, there are not many examples of Mudejar art in the regions under the domina- tion of other Military Orders. Then, since the end of XIII until XVI century, this beau- tiful artistic style, where wooden roofs, bevelled pillars and tumid arches prevail, will be reflected in the facades of

the houses, in palaces, fortifications and squares, even in bridges and over all, in towers and inside the churches. The materials used in this kind of constructions of Mudejar style, where sobriety is always the main common feature, are masonry, granite ashlars and over all, bricks. This Islamic tradition would mix up with beautiful Gothic traceries, pointed arches, transversal group of arches, etc. The two zones with most beautiful examples of Mude- jar style are situated in lands near other important nearby Mudejar focuses: Toledo, close to Guadalupe , Alía or Valdecaballeros and Seville to the south of Extremadura with Palomas , Puebla de la Reina , Hornachos , Azuaga or Tentudía . As well as it happened with the Extremaduran Romanesque art, the Gothic style in Extremadura appeared lately in relation to the north of the Peninsula, in spite of the fact that its artistic influences were expanding until XVI century.

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Castle of Alburquerque

General Aspects

Natural Spaces

Regions and Cities

Other aspects

Art and History

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