ROUTE 2: BALUARD DE LA CASA DE LA SENYORIA

16/03/2015 by Toni Alos

TOTEM ROUTE 2: BALUARD DE LA CASA DE LA SENYORIA

ROUTE START

We are now at the Plaza del Convento square, where the old Casino de Jaumet once stood, a beautiful house built with black stone, with its close fitted terrace based on wrought iron columns, attached to the convent bell tower. Later called Casino de Peparra, it was a typical mid- 18^th century liberal casino frequented by Altean society, The San Francisco churc which presides the square was formerly part of a Franciscan convent built in mid-18^th century, disentailed in 1836. Unfortunately, the convent was demolished in the 60’s.

Continuing up calle Pont de Montcau street, we come to today’s Casa de Cultura, a solid building belonging to middle-class landowners, built in 1886. Opposite is the Costera Mestre Música, a traditional street of a great many steps in the les Costeres neighbourhood, an example of the 18^th century urban expansion outside Altea’s fortified walls. We continue up this street to the ruins of the ancient Molí de Bellaguarda watermill.

(This information is published in the Guía de Altea by J. Miguel del Rey)

ROUTE 2: MOLÍ DE BELLAGUARDA

16/03/2015 by Toni Alos

TOTEM MOLI DE BELLAGUARDA

MOLÍ DE BELLAGUARDA (WATERMILL)

Also known as the “Aljub” (water cistern), it gives witness to a medieval past of which little remains in Altea, but is an example of our land’s ancestral water culture. This water mill is thought to have worked between the 14^th and 17^th centuries. We can see today how this structure was linked to the medieval settlement of Bellaguarda, on the skirts of the ancient hill on which Altea was later built on. It was supplied with water by the Séquia Blanca, an ancient water irrigation channel, which, in medieval times, probably supplied water to the mill from today’s Pla de Castell area.

Continuing up the stairs, we arrive at the end of the route, the bastion of the Casa de la Señoría, a space currently occupied by the Glorieta del Maño square.

(This information is published in the Guía de Altea by J. Miguel del Rey)

ROUTE 2 – BIC: BALUARTE CASA DE LA SEÑORÍA

16/03/2015 by Toni Alos

TOTEM GLORIETA

BIC

You have just entered Altea’s old Renaissance quarters.

Altea’s Bastion and Renaissance Area was declared a Cultural Heritage Site (BIC) in 2013.The Bastion conserves its original 1617 structure, with gates giving access to the fortress. The Virgen del Consuelo Church, built between the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries over the remains of the primitive17^th century church, provides character to the ensemble as a whole.

Magnificent buildings from the foundation period, built of the 18^th and 19^th centuries, have also been conserved.

Calle Salamanca Street: Houses nº1 and nº3 may be of interest in this street. Building nº 5, an inhabited and well conserved house, conserves the local middle-class style of the mid-eighteenth – early nineteenth century practically intact. A Sentry Post has been conserved in the north side of the wall.

The Casa de la Señoria Bastion (lost element): An artillery bastion of great presence which dominated the mouth of the Algar river in the north-east angle of its fortified perimeter. A great square block, it towered over the walls with a surrounding kerb at mid height, which reinforced its fortified aspect. A great hall, with windows to the east,defined the main floor. It was demolished between 1911 and 1915.

(This information is published in the Guia de Altea by J.Miguel del Rey)