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The Jabalquinto Palace is one of the finest examples of the Isabelline Gothic style in the town and was built in the late 15th century for Juan Alfonso de Benavides, the second cousin of Ferdinand the Catholic.
It boasts a Renaissance courtyard from the late 16th century comprising a double gallery of semi-circular arches on marble columns, and a magnificent Baroque staircase with decorative elements such as tapered pilasters, balustrades and volutes.
Nowadays it houses the Antonio Machado International University.
References:The Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg is situated in a strategic area on a rocky spur overlooking the Upper Rhine Plain, it was used by successive powers from the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years' War when it was abandoned. From 1900 to 1908 it was rebuilt at the behest of the German kaiser Wilhelm II. Today it is a major tourist site, attracting more than 500,000 visitors a year.
The first records of a castle built by the Hohenstaufens date back to 1147. The fortress changed its name to Koenigsburg (royal castle) around 1157. The castle was handed over to the Tiersteins by the Habsburgs following its destruction in 1462. They rebuilt and enlarged it, installing a defensive system designed to withstand artillery fire.
The fortification work accomplished over the 15th century did not suffice to keep the Swedish artillery at bay during the Thirty Years War, and the defences were overrun.