Castillo de Alcaudete was built by the Arabs over the remains of a previous Roman fortification and taken by the Christians in 1085 during the reign of Alfonso VI. For almost three hundred years thereafter, the castle kept changing hands until 1340 when the Christians took it over.
The design is polygon in shape, adjusted to the terrain escarpments. The structure is surmounted by six towers, including the Tower of Homage, which has a door on the north side, guarded by two additional towers.
Today it has become a tourism-cultural space which houses the Interpretation Centre on the life of the Military Order of Calatrava. Visitors will go back to the 13th century to discover the construction of a castle on the border with the Nasrid Kingdom, the lifestyle and internal structure of the Order, the military armament used for the assault and defence of a fortress.
References:La Hougue Bie is a Neolithic ritual site which was in use around 3500 BC. Hougue is a Jèrriais/Norman language word meaning a \'mound\' and comes from the Old Norse word haugr. The site consists of 18.6m long passage chamber covered by a 12.2m high mound. The site was first excavated in 1925 by the Société Jersiaise. Fragments of twenty vase supports were found along with the scattered remains of at least eight individuals. Gravegoods, mostly pottery, were also present. At some time in the past, the site had evidently been entered and ransacked.
In Western Europe, it is one of the largest and best preserved passage graves and the most impressive and best preserved monument of Armorican Passage Grave group. Although they are termed \'passage graves\', they were ceremonial sites, whose function was more similar to churches or cathedrals, where burials were incidental.