Lopera Castle

Description

The castillo de Lopera, which is currently made up of two enclosures, offers a configuration resulting from its complex historical evolution, starting from an original fortified church to becoming a castle-palace formed by two large towers joined by two sections of wall, located in the center of a walled enclosure with towers in the corners.  After the Castilian conquest, Lopera was handed over, in 1240–1241, to the Military Order of Calatrava, creating the Commandery of Lopera, which would reinforce its primitive defenses between the 14th and 15th centuries. It played an important role as a border fortress in the advance of the Castilian armies through the Giennese countryside during the 13th and 14th centuries, regaining prominence in the second half of the 15th century, within the framework of the noble struggles that were settled during the reign of Henry IV. It was attacked and looted in 1466 by the allies of the Constable of Castile, led by the Mayor of Andújar, Pedro de Escavias. Finally, in 1595 it was declared an independent town by the monarch Felipe II.The original construction was a fortified rural church, built in masonry repointed with lime mortar, with an irregular basilica plan and a quadrangular head offset to the left, a characteristic that defines those known as “Crooked” head Churches. It was divided into three naves, the central one being the widest, by arches on pillars and columns, lacking a transept, whose capitals have late Romanesque decoration. On the outside, on its northern side, during the archaeological excavations, part of a “U”-shaped trench excavated in the geological base was located, with an approximate depth of 2 m, and a dry-joined masonry wall that rests directly on the pit, possibly an antemural that delimited a narrow list. The excavations also revealed the existence of numerous burials both inside and outside the temple, most of them in the head and in its surroundings. The bodies rested in trapezoidal or anthropomorphic graves excavated in the rock, some with marked heads, and covered by earthen mounds or, in some cases, stone slabs. A burial covered by part of a large ceramic container stood out. This first building was destroyed and burned by the Nasrid armies of Muhammad V, allies of King Pedro I, around 1368, during the conflicts between the Castilian king and his half-brother Enrique II of Trastámara. After its destruction, a new church was built that maintains its layout, although it incorporates modifications. Two towers are erected, that of San Miguel, at the foot of the church and that of Santa María, which will encompass the head, now with a semicircular shape inside. This new fortification corresponds to the external walled enclosure that is preserved today, with an irregular pentagonal layout and five solid corner towers, built in masonry. It was defended by a rampart or a barbican and a moat. In the parade ground, the new fortified church was rebuilt as a fortress: two large towers joined by two sections of walls that form a wide walkway with loopholes, supported by semicircular arches on buttresses. This building was functionally divided into two environments: the lower one for religious use and the upper one for military use. The worship space was divided into three naves, the central one being the widest. A large terrace was formed above the cult area, which would serve as a parade ground and give access to the defensive elements of the walls and tower of Santa María. At this time the burials will be concentrated in the exterior area, relegated to the head and surrounding areas, with the exception of two tombs that are located inside next to the large arch that gives access to the apse area, the most sacred space of this new church. Between the end of the 15th century and the first half of the 16th century, this fortified church was adapted into a castle-palace. The works consisted of the construction of two large bodies and a small porticoed patio with three carpanel arches with Renaissance capitals, which would serve as the articulating axis of the noble residence, around which various rooms are distributed. The apse area of ​​the church was transformed into an oratory by the Commander of Lopera D. Juan Pacheco in 1535, covered by a barrel vault decorated with Renaissance plasterwork and painted inscriptions, which was also accessed from the exterior patio through a new door made on the north façade, equipped with a portico on columns. On the outside of the building, archaeological excavations brought to light a garden space, with a large patio, with a fountain that was supplied with water extracted by a water wheel and an orchard area, which confirm its use as a residential home. In the 20th century the castle functioned as a residence and winery, a phase from which numerous buried wine cellars are preserved to the west of the San Miguel tower, which caused the destruction of the archaeological levels. In the area around Lopera, sites from the Bronze and Iron Age have been found; settlements of the Lower Roman Empire with continued occupation until the Visigothic period; as well as rural settlements from the Emiral period, which used the Cerro de San Cristóbal as a common place of refuge, including the Lopera farm itself, which we could identify with the population of Bayyara cited in Islamic sources. The archaeological investigations carried out to date in its historic center confirm the existence of this farm that exploited the agricultural resources of the area in the 12th and 13th centuries. After the conquest, Lopera was handed over, in 1240–1241, to the Military Order of Calatrava, creating the Commandery of Lopera, which would reinforce its primitive defenses between the 14th and 15th centuries. The Order managed to form an extensive lordship in the extreme southwest of the current province of Jaén, which included large areas of the Campiña and a good part of the foothills of the Sierras Sur, bordering the Kingdom of Granada, which led it to promote extensive fortification work in its possessions. This network of fortifications played an important border role in the territorial expansion undertaken by the Castilian armies during the 13th and 14th centuries, regaining prominence in the second half of the 15th century, within the framework of the noble struggles during the reign of Henry IV. In the confrontation between the supporters of the Castilian monarch against the followers of a noble coalition headed by D. Pedro Pacheco, Marquis of Villena and D. Pedro Girón, Master of Calatrava, the members of the Order actively participating in the contest. During the conflict, the Lopera fortress was attacked and looted in 1466 by the allies of the Constable of Castile, led by the Mayor of Andújar, Pedro de Escavias. It was declared an independent town by Philip II in 1595. In the 19th century, with the confiscation, the assets of the church were acquired for the most part by bourgeoisie, the ownership of the castle passing into the hands of Alonso de Valenzuela, deputy and mayor of Lopera, in 1856. During the Spanish Civil War, Lopera once again became a prominent scene of a war, since the dividing line between both national and republican sides, popularly known as the Andújar front, was located around the town. Numerous vestiges have remained of this conflict in the area around Lopera: machine gun nests, Republican trenches, an anti-tank fort, basements and caves used as anti-aircraft shelters in the same town. The most notable episode was the Battle of Lopera, fought between December 27 and 29, 1936, in which the rebellious armies conquered Lopera. Finally, in the 20th century the Calatrava fortress was used as a wine cellar, a new use that profoundly transformed the original structure of the defensive complex, conditioned as a temporary residence and wine cellar and introducing irreversible changes to the castle.