Castle of San Marcos is a medieval castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

 located in El Puerto de Santa María

El Puerto de Santa María

El Puerto de Santa María is a municipality located on the banks of the Guadalete River in the province of Cádiz, Spain. , the city has a population of c...

, Cádiz

Cádiz

Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. The castle was erected as a fortified church

Fortified church

Churches have often shown potential to be used for defensive purposes.Europe has a substantial legacy of fortified churches which were used for defensive purposes in time of war...

 by King Alfonso X of Castile

Alfonso X of Castile

Alfonso X was a Castilian monarch who ruled as the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 1252 until his death...

. It was built on the site of a mosque of which the wall of the qibla

Qibla

The Qiblah , also transliterated as Qibla, Kiblah or Kibla, is the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays during salah...

 survives.

Close to the castle there is a replica of the map of Juan de la Cosa

Juan de la Cosa

Juan de la Cosa was a Spanish cartographer, conquistador and explorer. He made the earliest extant European world map to incorporate the territories of the Americas that were discovered in the 15th century, sailed first 3 voyages with Christopher Columbus, and was the owner/captain of the Santa...

 and a little fountain.

Conservation

The castle was declared a national monument on 30 August, 1920 and is currently listed in the Spanish heritage register as a Bien de Interés Cultural

Bien de Interés Cultural

A Bien de Interés Cultural is a category of the Spanish heritage register. This category dates from 1985 when it replaced the former heritage category of Monumento nacional in order to extend protection to a wider range of cultural property...

.

External links