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Architecture and Major landmarks
Architecture and Major landmarks
Among the many landmarks of historical and scenic interest in Cadiz, a few stand out.
The city can boast of an unusual cathedral of various architectural styles, a magnificent theatre, an attractive old municipal building, an eighteenth-century watchtower, a vestige of the ancient city wall, an ancient Roman theatre, and electrical pylons of an eye-catching modern design carrying cables across the Bay of Cadiz.
The old town is characterised by its narrow streets connecting into magnificent squares, bordered from the sea by the City walls.
Most of the landmark buildings are situated in the squares.
Plazas and their landmark buildings
The old town of Cadiz is one of the most densely populated urban areas in Europe, and is packed with narrow streets.
The old town benefits though from several striking plazas, which are enjoyed by citizens and tourists alike.
These are Plaza de Mina, Plaza San Antonio, Plaza de Candelaria, Plaza de San Juan de Dios and Plaza de España.
Plaza de Mina
Located in the heart of the old town, Plaza de Mina, (the most beautiful of the Cadiz plazas) was developed in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Previously, the land occupied by the plaza was the orchard of the convent of San Francisco.
The plaza, was converted into a plaza in 1838 by the architect Torcuato Benjumeda and (later) Juan Daura, with its trees being planted in 1861.
It was then redeveloped again in 1897, and has remained virtually unchanged since that time.
It is named after General Francisco Espoz y Mina, a hero of the war of independence.
Manuel de Falla y Matheu was born in Number 3 Plaza de Mina, where a plaque bears his name.
The plaza also contains several statues, one of these is a bust of José Macpherson (a pioneer in the development of petrography, stratigraphy and tectonics) who was born in number 12 Plaza de Mina in 1839.
The Museum of Cadiz, is to be found at number 5 Plaza de Mina, and contains many objects from Cadiz's 3000 year history as well as works by artists such as Peter Paul Rubens.
The houses which face the plaza, many of which can be classified as neo-classical architecture or built in the style of Isabelline Gothic, were originally occupied by the Cadiz bourgeoisie.
Plaza de San Francisco and San Francisco Church and Convent
Located next to Plaza de Mina, this smaller square houses the San Francisco church and convent.
Originally built in 1566, it was substantially renovated in the 17th Century, when its cloisters were added.
Originally, the Plaza de Mina formed the convent's orchard.
Plaza San Antonio
In the 19th century Plaza San Antonio was considered to be Cadiz’s main square.
It is a beautiful square, surrounded by a number of mansions built in neo-classical architecture or Isabelline Gothic style, once occupied by the Cadiz upper classes.
San Antonio church, originally built in 1669, is also situated in the plaza, .
The plaza was built in the 18th century, and on 19 March 1812 the Spanish Constitution of 1812 was proclaimed here, leading to the plaza to be named Plaza de la Constitución, and then later Plaza San Antonio, after the hermit San Antonio.
In 1954 the cities mayor proclaimed the location a historic site.
All construction is prohibited.
Plaza de Candelaria
The Plaza de Candelaria is named after the Candelaria convent, situated in the square until it was demolished in 1873, when its grounds were redeveloped as a plaza.
The plaza is notable for a statue in its centre of Emilio Castelar, president of the first Spanish republic, who was born in a house facing the square.
A plaque situated on another house, states that Bernardo O'Higgins, an Irish-Chilean adventurer and former dictator of Chile also, lived in the square.
Plaza de la Catedral and the Cathedral
The Plaza de la Catedral houses both the Cathedral and the baroque Santiago church, built in 1635.
One of Cádiz's most famous landmarks is its cathedral.
It sits on the site of an older cathedral, completed in 1260, which burned down in 1596.
The reconstruction, which was not started until 1776, was supervised by the architect Vicente Acero, who had also built the Granada Cathedral.
Acero left the project and was succeeded by several other architects.
As a result, this largely baroque-style cathedral was built over a period of 116 years, and, due to this drawn-out period of construction, the cathedral underwent several major changes to its original design.
Though the cathedral was originally intended to be a baroque edifice, it contains rococo elements, and was finally completed in the neoclassical style.
Its chapels have many paintings and relics from the old cathedral and monasteries from throughout Spain.
Plaza de San Juan de Dios and the Old Town Hall
Construction of this plaza began in the 15th century on lands reclaimed from the sea.
With the demolition of the City walls in 1906 the plaza increased in size and a statue of the Cadiz politician Segismundo Moret was unveiled.
Overlooking the plaza, the Ayuntamiento is the town hall of Cádiz's Old City.
The structure, constructed on the bases and location of the previous Consistorial Houses (1699), was built in two stages.
The first stage began in 1799 under the direction of architect Torcuato Benjumeda in the neoclassical style.
The second stage was completed in 1861 under the direction of García del Alamo, in the Isabelline Gothic (in Spanish, "Gótico Isabelino" or, simply, the "Isabelino") style.
Here, in 1936, the flag of Andalusia was hoisted for the first time.
Plaza de España and the monument to the constitution of 1812
The Plaza de España is a large square close to the port.
It is dominated by the Monument to the Constitution of 1812, which came into being as a consequence of the demolition of a portion of the old city wall.
The plaza is an extension of the old Plazuela del Carbón.
The goal of this demolition was to create a grand new city square to mark the hundredth anniversary of the liberal constitution, which was proclaimed in this city in 1812, and provide a setting for a suitable memorial.
The work is by the architect, Modesto Lopez Otero, and of the sculptor, Aniceto Marinas.
The work began in 1912 and finished in 1929.
The lower level of the monument represents a chamber and an empty presidential armchair.
The upper level has various inscriptions surmounting the chamber.
On each side are bronze figures representing peace and war.
In the center, a pilaster rises to symbolize, in allegorical terms, the principals expressed in the 1812 constitution.
At the foot of this pilaster, there is a female figure representing Spain, and, to either side, scuptural groupings representing agriculture and citizenship.
Plaza de Falla and the Gran Teatro Falla (Falla Grand Theatre)
The original Gran Teatro was constructed in 1871 by the architect García del Alamo, and was destroyed by a fire in August, 1881.
The current theatre was built between 1884 and 1905 over the remains of the previous Gran Teatro.
The architect was Adolfo Morales de los Rios, and the overseer of construction was Juan Cabrera de la Torre.
The outside was covered in red bricks and is of a neo-Mudejar or Moorish revival style.
Following renovations in the 1920s, the theatre was renamed the Gran Teatro Falla, in honor of composer Manuel de Falla, who is buried in the crypt of the cathedral.
After a period of disrepair in the 1980s, the theatre has since undergone extensive renovation.
Other Landmarks
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Tavira tower
In the 18th century, Cádiz had more than 160 towers from which local merchants could look out to sea for arriving merchant ships.
These towers often formed part of the merchants' houses.
The Torre Tavira, named for its original owner, stands as the tallest remaining watchtower.
It has a cámara oscura, a room that uses the principal of the pinhole camera (and a specially-prepared convex lens) to project panoramic views of the Old City onto its interior walls.
(Also see the article titled Widow's walk.) .
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Admiral's House
The Casa del Almirante is a palatial house, adjacent to the Plaza San Martín in the Barrio del Pópulo, which was constructed in 1690 with the proceeds of the lucrative trade with the Americas.
It was built by the family of the admiral of the Spanish treasure fleet, the so-called Fleet of the Indies, Don Diego de Barrios.
The exterior is sheathed in exquisite red and white Genoan marble, prepared in the workshops of Andreoli, and mounted by the master, García Narváez.
The colonnaded portico, the grand staircase under the cupola, and the hall on the main floor are architectural features of great nobility and beauty.
The shield of the Barrios family appears on the second-floor balcony.
Old customs house
Within the plan of reforms of the walls that protect the flank of the port of Cadiz projects the construction of three identical and next buildings to each other: the Customs, the House of Hiring and the Consulate.
Of only the three it is executed first, of neoclassic, sober style and of ample and balanced proportions.
The works began in 1765 under the direction of Juan Caballero at a cost of 7,717,200 reales.
Palacio de Congresos
Cadiz's superbly refurbished tobacco factory offers excellent international conference and trade-show facilities.
Home to the third annual MAST Conference and trade-show (12th to 14th November 2008) .
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Roman theatre
In 1980, in the El Pópulo district of Cádiz, there was a fire in some old warehouses belonging to a company called Vigorito, SA, causing catastrophic damage.
In the aftermath of the fire, an exciting discovery was made: the remains of an ancient Roman theatre.
The fire had destroyed the warehouses revealing a layer of construction that was judged to be the foundations of some medieval buildings; the foundations of these buildings had been built, in turn, upon much more ancient stones, hand-hewn limestone of a Roman character.
Systematic excavations, which still continue, have revealed a largely in-tact Roman theatre.
The theatre, constructed by order of Lucius Cornelius Balbus (minor) during the first century BCE, is the second largest Roman theatre in the world, surpassed only by the theater of Pompeii, south of Rome.
Cicero, in "Epistulae ad Familiares" (Letters to his friends), wrote of its use by Balbo for personal propaganda.
According to archaeologists, this discovery confirms the greatness of the Roman city of Gades.
The ancient city had a population even greater than the 80,000 people who lived in Cádiz during the sixteenth and seventeenth century, when the city dominated trans-Atlantic commerce, and it was one of the most prosperous cities of the Roman empire.
Pylons of Cádiz
The Pylons of Cádiz are electricity pylons of unusual design, one on either side of the Bay of Cádiz, used to support huge electric-power cables.
The pylons are 158 metres high and designed for two circuits.
The very unconventional construction consists of a narrow frustum steel framework with one crossbar at the top of each one for the insulators.
City walls and fortifications
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City Gates
Las Puertas de Tierra originated in the 16th century, although much of the original work has disappeared.
Once consisting of several layers of walls, only one of these remain today.
By the 20th century it was necessary to remodel the entrance to the Old City to accommodate modern traffic.
Today, the two side-by-side arches cut into the wall serve as one of the primary entrances to the city.
El Arco de los Blancos, is the old gate to the Populo district, built around 1300.
It was the principal gate to the medieval town.
The gate is named after the family of Felipe Blanco who built a chapel (now disappeared) above the gate.
El Arco de la Rosa (The Rose Arch) is the old gate carved into the walls of medieval Cádiz next to the cathedral.
These walls and the gate were built during the reign of Alfonso X.
The gate is named after Captain Gaspar de la Rosa, who lived in the City in the 18th Century.
The gate was renovated in 1973.
Fortress of Candelaria
The Baluarte de la Candelaria (fortress or stronghold of Candlemas) is a military fortification.
Taking advantage of a natural elevation of land, it was constructed in 1672 at the initiative of the governor, Diego Caballero de Illescas.
Protected by a seaward-facing wall that had previously served as a seawall, Candelaria's cannons were in a position to command the channels approaching the port of Cádiz.
In more recent times, the edifice has served as a headquarters for the corps of military engineers and as the home to the army's homing pigeons, birds used to carry written messages over hostile terrain.
Thoroughly renovated, it is now used as a cultural venue.
There has been some discussion of using it to house a maritime museum, but, at present, it is designated for use as a permanent exposition space.
San Sebastian
The Castillo de San Sebastian is also a military fortification, and is situated at the end of a road leading out from the Caleta beach.
It was built in 1706.
Today the castle remains unused, although its future uses remain much debated...
Santa Catalina
The Castillo de Santa Catalina is also a military fortification, and is situated at the end of the Caleta beach.
It was built in 1598 following the English sacking of Cadiz two years earlier.
Recently renovated, today it is used for exhibitions and concerts.
Source: CIA Factbook, Wikipedia
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