User Reviews
Tebra Castle is sited in the Tomiño valley. The river Tebra, tributary of the Miño, flows through this valley. Alonso Gómez Churruchao was the owner in 1345, but Pedro Álvarez de Soutomaior took possession of the Castle in 1468. Between 1481 and 1486, Don Fernando de Acuña, on behalf of the Catholic Monarchs, (Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile), destroyed the castle and later it belonged to Alvaro Suarez de Deza. The Queen Juana la Loca authorized the rebuilding of the castle and it was owned by the Count of Camiña one year later.
The battlements, the sentry box and the cornice are specially beautiful. But, undoubtedly, the Renaissance tower is the most outstanding element of the Castle. After the Catholic Monarchs ordered the destruction of this tower, Alvaro Suarez Deza rebuilt it in 1532. The two sides of the Tower have an extraordinary dimension of approximately 8m wide.
The castle of Tebra has four floors: the ground floor and other three floors. The most remarkable parts of the Castle are its wide viewpoint, a gallery with semicircular arches, a large tower and a chapel.
The castle is in good condition and it is in the municipality of O Seixo, Tomiño. Nowadays the castle is a residence of private property but visitors can have free access to the outdoor part of the castle.
References:The Externsteine (Extern stones) is a distinctive sandstone rock formation located in the Teutoburg Forest, near the town of Horn-Bad Meinberg. The formation is a tor consisting of several tall, narrow columns of rock which rise abruptly from the surrounding wooded hills. Archaeological excavations have yielded some Upper Paleolithic stone tools dating to about 10,700 BC from 9,600 BC.
In a popular tradition going back to an idea proposed to Hermann Hamelmann in 1564, the Externsteine are identified as a sacred site of the pagan Saxons, and the location of the Irminsul (sacral pillar-like object in German paganism) idol reportedly destroyed by Charlemagne; there is however no archaeological evidence that would confirm the site's use during the relevant period.
The stones were used as the site of a hermitage in the Middle Ages, and by at least the high medieval period were the site of a Christian chapel. The Externsteine relief is a medieval depiction of the Descent from the Cross. It remains controversial whether the site was already used for Christian worship in the 8th to early 10th centuries.
The Externsteine gained prominence when Völkisch and nationalistic scholars took an interest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This interest peaked under the Nazi regime, when the Externsteine became a focus of nazi propaganda. Today, they remain a popular tourist destination and also continue to attract Neo-Pagans and Neo-Nazis.