Cádiz, Spain
Coordinates: 36.680343, -6.139732
The Alcázar of Jerez de la Frontera is a former Islamic alcázar (fortress), now housing a park, in Jerez de la Frontera, Andalusia, Spain.
The first fortress was probably built in the 11th-century, when Jerez was part of the small kingdom of the Taifa of Arcos de la Frontera, on a site settled since prehistoric times in the south-eastern corner of the city.
In the 12th-century, a new structure was erected to be used as both residence and fortress by the Almohad rulers of southern Spain.
These included not only living quarters, baths, and mosques but also supply warehouses and water tanks.
This is the only surviving mosque building of 18 former mosques in the Jerez city which was converted into church after the fall of andalusia.
Later, after the fall of Andalusia, it was the seat of the first Christian mayors. The alcázar is one of a few structures that best exemplify Almohad Islamic architecture in the Iberian Peninsula.
The castle-fortress itself served as an autonomous fortified city situated within a larger fortified city.
This arrangement was a commonplace feature of Almohad building practices.
As such, all the essentials of both military defense and everyday civilian life were contained within its walls.
The building of a complex of such scale was both due to the Almohad aptitude for refining the construction process to a degree comparable with that of the Romans, and to their diminished use of decorative elements as compared to previous eras.
