Santa Catalina Fortress, Cádiz, Spain

Santa Catalina Fortress was built on a rocky outcrop that reaches out to sea. La Caleta beach is on one side, protecting it to the northwest. Built in the 17th century, it has an Italian-style star-shaped floor-plan, and served as a military prison.

Castles and fortifications in Spain

User Reviews

Vladimir Balaz (8 months ago)
Small, but nice fort on the Cadiz beach.

Zoa Moz (12 months ago)
Free and pleasant place to walk around and enjoy the windy ocean. There's a little museum dedicated to a period of the || World War

mcdermc (12 months ago)
Located in the southwestern corner of the Iberian Peninsula, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Sea, Cádiz is considered to be the oldest inhabited city in Europe and is certainly a city with a rich history. We were brought up on early TV tales of Sir Francis Drake and his many nautical forays against the Spanish, with Cádiz a favourite city to attack. So when we were holidaying nearby in southern Spain (circa 2010) we couldn't resist the opportunity to drive across to Cádiz in pilgrimage. Gazing out to sea from Castillo de Santa Catalina, it was well worth the journey too.

Olivier Vuursteen (13 months ago)
Pretty boring, you can skip this. I wouldn't call it a castle.

David L. Brooks (15 months ago)
An impressive seaside fortified castle in Cadiz , Castillo de Santa Catalina, probably has not changed much since it was built the 1500's. Cadiz was the port that Columbus used to set out on his voyages to the New World.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Steve Clasper

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Kraków Cloth Hall

The Cloth Hall in Kraków dates to the Renaissance and is one of the city's most recognizable icons. It is the central feature of the main market square in the Kraków Old Town (listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978).

The hall was once a major centre of international trade. Traveling merchants met there to discuss business and to barter. During its golden age in the 15th century, the hall was the source of a variety of exotic imports from the east – spices, silk, leather and wax – while Kraków itself exported textiles, lead, and salt from the Wieliczka Salt Mine.

Kraków was Poland's capital city and was among the largest cities in Europe already from before the time of the Renaissance. However, its decline started with the move of the capital to Warsaw in the very end of the 16th century. The city's decline was hastened by wars and politics leading to the Partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century. By the time of the architectural restoration proposed for the cloth hall in 1870 under Austrian rule, much of the historic city center was decrepit. A change in political and economic fortunes for the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria ushered in a revival due to newly established Legislative Assembly or Sejm of the Land. The successful renovation of the Cloth Hall, based on design by Tomasz Pryliński and supervised by Mayor Mikołaj Zyblikiewicz, Sejm Marshal, was one of the most notable achievements of this period.

The hall has hosted many distinguished guests over the centuries and is still used to entertain monarchs and dignitaries, such as Charles, Prince of Wales and Emperor Akihito of Japan, who was welcomed here in 2002. In the past, balls were held here, most notably after Prince Józef Poniatowski had briefly liberated the city from the Austrians in 1809. Aside from its history and cultural value, the hall still is still used as a center of commerce.

On the upper floor of the hall is the Sukiennice Museum division of the National Museum, Kraków. It holds the largest permanent exhibit of the 19th-century Polish painting and sculpture, in four grand exhibition halls arranged by historical period and the theme extending into an entire artistic epoch. The museum was upgraded in 2010 with new technical equipment, storerooms, service spaces as well as improved thematic layout for the display.

The Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art was a major cultural venue from the moment it opened on October 7, 1879. It features late Baroque, Rococo, and Classicist 18th-century portraits and battle scenes by Polish and foreign pre-Romantics.

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