Cáceres information
General information
It lies 498 m above sea level, and its average temperature is 9.5o C in winter and 24,6o C in summer. It has around 68,000 inhabitants. Although the modern part has its merits because it is clean, well laid out and has a lovely park, it is the old area with its historic sights that will draw the visitor's attention since there are many palaces, churches and residential buildings which are perfectly preserved and turn this part into a real jewel of art, especially of the 15th and 16th c. But there are also older traces, such as the beautiful Carvajal Tower of the 13th c.
The curtain walls of this area date from the times of the Almohads
and preserve some Roman sections. Twelve of the thirty towers
protecting the enclosure still stand and especially outstanding
are the ones called Redonda, del Pepito, del Horno, de la Yerba,
del Portigo and de Bujaco, without forgetting La Estrella Arch,
the former Puerta Nueva or New Gate, which was built by Churriguera
in the 18th c. A leisurely visit should be paid to the 15th c
Las Cig?ñas House with its crenellated tower, the only one of
the city built by royal privilege; Las Veletas House and its Baroque
facade on the site of the former Alcázar or Moorish fortress;
Santa Clara Convent of the 17th c, with beautiful coats-of-arms
and a Renaissance frontispiece; San Mateo, which used to be the
main mosque and stands at the highest point of the city, with
its Plateresque portal and richly decorated sepulchers; the so-called
Casa del Sol (House of the Sun) of the 16th c, with its important
facade and the coat-of-arms of the Solís family; the Palace of
the Golfines de Abajo, which combines Gothic, Mudéjar and Plateresque
and includes beautiful battlements along the facade, and after
all those sights, Santa María Square, framed by suggestive architecture,
such as a Gothic church, which was finished in the 16th c, where
an impressive series of famous natives of Cáceres lie buried,
immortalized by tombstones, statues and aristocratic coats-of
arms. On the same square stands the Episcopal Palace with its
Gothic and Renaissance facade, the Plateresque Ovando House and
the Gothic Mayoralgo Palace. This complex of historic sights is
further enhanced by other buildings and monuments in its flagstone
streets: Los Espaderos Tower, El Socorro Arch, La Plata Tower,
the Palace of the Golfines de Arriba, the home of the Sánchez
Paredes family and that of the Pereros family, the so-called Casa
del Mono (House of the Monkey), which houses the Provincial Museum
of Paintings, Sculpture and Religious Art with interesting memorabilia
of the city. But not all the monuments remain inside the walls.
Many more of them beautify today's Cáceres outside the walls:
Godoy Palace, the Palace of the Duke of Abrantes, the Palace of
La Isla, the homes of the Carvajales and Galarza families, the
Church of Santiago (St. James), cradle of the order of the same
name, where a magnificent reredos by Berruguete is found, Los
Caballos House, which is today's Museum of Contemporary Art, San
Francisco Monastery, the Mudéjar Hermitage of El Espíritu Santo
and the Sanctuary of its Patron Saint, La Virgen de la Montaña
de la Montana, which towers over the city center.