The castle-palace of Belalcázar is one of the most representative of the 15th century, when the nobility attempted to demonstrate its social and economic status.
Built entirely of stone blocks, Belalcazar preserves two enclosures: an outer barrier adapted to the irregularities of the land and reinforced with rectangular towers, and the inner rectangular castle-palace with eight towers, one at each corner and another in the center of each side. All eight towers are of average height except for the eastern and principal tower, which rises noticeably above the rest.
In the 15th century, some Renaissance construction was added to improve the accommodations of the palace, which were insufficient in the old principal tower.The castle was built by the magnate Gutierre de Sotomayor, grand master of Alcantara, with the benefices he earned from his various possessions. The castle later passed on to the houses of Benavente and Osuna. In 1811, during the War of Independence, French troops defended the castle against a siege by the duke of Wellington's British troops.The exterior of the fortress is almost entirely intact, but nothing remains of the interior structure.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.