Castle Colomares
Colomares is a castle created in the resort town of Benalmaden in honor of the five hundredth anniversary of the opening of America by Columbus. The architecture of the castle amazes even sophisticated travelers. In the castle, the author of the project wanted to combine the whole culture of medieval Spain: elements of Gothic are visible, as well as Romanesque, Byzantine, Moorish architecture.
Christopher Columbus hoped to travel west to open a short journey to India. To do this, he agreed on his plan with King Ferdinand of Aragon and his wife Isabella Castille. Christopher repeatedly offered to move west, but only in 1492 received funds for the journey. Also, Columbus was helped by Martin Alonso Pinson, who gave his ship "Pinta" and finances, and the third ship was prepared by the marranes ( baptized Jews ).
On August 3, 1492, three ships sailed from the port of Palos de la Fronter. October 12, 1492 ( the official opening date of America ) year crew of the ship "Pinta" saw overboard in the Caribbean and named it San Salvador. The architect reflected this event, building a chapel. On December 6, 1492, they opened the island of Haiti, to which at that time they gave the name Espanyola, because in the relief of the area they recognized their native Castile. On December 25, 1492, the ship "Santa Maria" ran into underwater reefs and crashed. With the support of the local population, Columbus built a fort from fragments of the ship. The fortification was called "La Navidad", which translates as Christmas. The castle of Kolomares reflects the scenes of the death of the ship and the construction of the fort. 39 people remained in the fortification, the rest on the Ninje ship sailed on January 4, 1493 to explore the coast of Haiti. On March 15, 1493, the Pinta, Ninyi returned to Spain. After Columbus, he equipped another 3 expeditions to America in 1493-1504, during which the colonization of the found lands began.
The symbol of this famous journey was the architectural ensemble of Kolomares. In 1987, Dr. Esteban Martin and 2 assistants began construction. He recreated in stone all the way from Spain to America. Construction took 7 years and in 1994 ( 500 years since the opening of America ) construction was completed.
Esteban, although he knew history and architecture well, his work with construction was not connected in any way, since he gave his whole life to medicine. His workers used to do only brick masonry, and during construction they learned to process marble, wood and stone. The castle is decorated with 3 ships involved in the voyage. It is worth noting that Kolomares 2 times got into the Guinness Book of Records: the largest monument to Columbus, because the castle area is approximately 1,500 km2, In addition, the smallest chapel on the planet with an area of 1.96 m is located in the castle2. In addition to opening America, other important events are also captured in the castle. For example, the Fountain of Lovers personifies the marital union of King Ferdinand Aragon and Isabella of Castille, who gave the ship and means for the journey of Columbus. "The "Portal of Unification" personifies the merger of the kingdom of Navarre and Spain. In the Eastern Tower, the manners of the construction of Asian countries are traced, it contains Columbus' dreams of a short journey to India.
For some time after the completion of construction, Kolomares Castle was used for falconry, but falcons began to exterminate cats of local residents, and this venture was refused. Today it is a very popular attraction of Benalmaden, which will be interesting not only to children, but also to adults.
