Nuestra Señora de la Asunción Church, Bujalance, Spain

Nuestra Señora de la Asunción originates from the church of Santa Maria, which was built above the medieval mosque, near the town's Alcazaba, after the area had been conquered by Ferdinand III of Castile. The edifice is in Gothic-Renaissance style, with ogival arcades and pillars attributed to Hernán Ruiz the Elder, Hernán Ruiz the Younger (1556) and Hernán Ruiz III. The Gothic cross-vault ceiling is the oldest part of the church.

The Renaissance high altar (16th century) is attributed to Guillermo de Orta and Andrés de Castillejo, with paintings by Leonardo Enríquez de Navarra. Next to the altar is a small hexagonal chapel in Baroque style, from the early 18th century. Other artworks include the Roccoco case by the Cordoban goldsmith Damián de Castro, a large canvas of the Battle of Lepanto and a side Baroque portal in pink marble.

The tilting tower, begun in 1611 and finished in 1788, has a height of 55 meters.

References:

Wikipedia

Religious sites in Spain

User Reviews

José Luis Martínez Ruiz (2 years ago)
Spectacular temple that is known as the Cathedral of the Countryside for its immense dimensions. Next to it is the leaning tower, also known as the Andalusian pizza tower. You can not stop visiting it.

Gabriel Valle de Ibia (2 years ago)
Majestic Renaissance temple that imposes for its beauty and dimensions accompanied by the 2nd tallest tower in Andalusia (called the "Pisa" tower of Andalusia) for its inclination. It is a beauty and worth visiting. It is called the cathedral of the countryside. A gift for the senses. In addition, this building is part of the so-called "architecture of the sun" together with other secular clerical buildings in the town with fantastic and intriguing theories about its construction and the golden number.

juan antonio serrano jurado (3 years ago)
Iglesia de neorrenacentista con la 2 torre mas alta después de la torre de la giralda

Gabriel Valdivia (3 years ago)
Majestuoso templo renacentista que impone por su belleza y dimensiones acompañada por la 2a torre más alta de Andalucía (llamada la torre de "Pisa" de Andalucía) por su inclinación. Es una belleza y merece la pena visitarla. Se le llama la catedral de la campiña. Todo un regalo para los sentidos. Además firma parte de la llamada arquitectura del sol junto a otras construcciones seculares en la localidadcon con fantásticos e intrigadores teorías sobre su construcción y el número áureo.

TERESA DE LA ROSA CASADO (3 years ago)
La catedral de la campiña. Un lugar k hay k visitar sin duda. Devoción y patrimonio de unen en un marco incomparable.

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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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