ALCANTARA

It is strategically located, under the protection of its monumental Roman bridge, which crosses a deep canyon clocked by the Tagus River, after receiving the waters of the Alagón.

Strategic point, which the Romans fortified extraordinarily. As a result, the population developed, which after the reconquest, became one more of the fortresses along the Portuguese border.

The numerous megalithic remains and castros, the heritage of Romans, Arabs and Christians, are joined by the arabled defenses of the XVII and other civil and religious dependencies, which made it attractive for tourism, in beautiful natural landscape.

THE LEGACY OF ROME

The town of Alcántara is located next to a deep ravine crossed by the Tagus River. In 106 A.D., Cayo Julio Lacer built a unique bridge in his time, being one of the most important Roman engineering works in the world. With a height of about 48 meters and is supported by 5 pillars and two stirrups, the latter, anchored to the rocky margins of a deep ravine crossed by old Anas. It stands out its central pillar and the arch that crowns it, later madding and modified in 1543. Its name Al-Qantarat (the bridge), gave name to the city that we know today, possibly initial camp or defensive settlement, which over time, was absorbing the scattered pre-Roman population of the surroundings.

The bridge has suffered the consequences of war avatars throughout history. In 1213 the Muslims tried to cut it to avoid the passage to the army of Alfonso IX. In 1475 the Castilians, in the face of the harassment of Alfonso V of Portugal, were willing to throw it away when the Portuguese king in a gesture that honored him, promised to give a rodeo in his campaign, with such a count of the Castile that he wanted such a singular monument. Charles I ordered his reconstruction, modifying as the Arc de Triomphe has already been said.

During the War of Succession, the arch of its headwaters was blown up and rebuilt in the time of Charles III. Later in 1809, during the War of Independence, its second arch was blown up, being cut until eight years later, it was rebuilt in wood, to allow the passage of people and goods. During the Carlist Wars in 1836, this work was burned down, being rebuilt again during the reign of Elizabeth II.

On the left bank, a small temple from the imperial era, known as the temple of Lácer, is preserved, where the remains of the architect who raised it rest. As with most shrines preserved in spite of time, he was consecrated and Christianized, putting himself under the advocation of St. Julian.

THE ORDER OF ALCANTARA

There are hardly any traces of the Visigothic Olive left, although it is assumed that the invaders of the north reused the Roman infrastructures and the population settlements. After the Arab invasion, they fortified the city with slate fences that completely redealed it.

Alfonso IX de León definitively incorporated it into his crown in 1213, handing it over, for his defense to the order of Calatrava and later to that of Alcantara, who established his Priory there, raising on the old castle the Conventual de San Benito. Faced with the unfortunate state of the order, the Catholic Monarchs ordered the construction of a Monastery, whose construction began in 1450. The work was prolonged over time with an original mix of styles. The cloister, Gothic, has two floors according to the custom of the time. The Main Chapel stands out with impressive cross vaults and various chapels with burials of knights of the order.

The infighting in the crowns of Castile and Portugal, as well as the mutual ingestions of both kingdoms in the politics of their neighbors, increased the strategic importance of the population, which suffered the consequences of the continuing clashes these differences caused.

Amortized medieval defenses, the population surrounded theself with a complete slurred fortification bastion that has come to this day quite deteriorated. Pending an urgent rehabilitation, it has the peculiarity that it was built almost entirely with slate stone, material that was available depending on the orography of the land.

WARS WITH PORTUGAL AND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

Almost in the middle of the sixteenth century the prominence of the town decreases, while the Alcantara order is circumscribed to the north and that of Santiago to the south, in such a way that the configuration of the new region, Extremadura, peripheral and border, whose political influence loses enormously the weight it had in the past. The power of the order is fragmented with frequent clashes between it, the lords and the religious themselves. Separated Portugal from the Spanish Crown, this territory is desired by the strategists of the two nations, which leads to new clashes in which Alcántara takes the brunt, as it was sparsely defended. In 1703 Philip V occupied the population and declared war on Portugal and the Great Alliance.

Before the revolutionary war began, the French entered Spain, apparently to begin the conquest of Portugal. Marshal Junot settled in the Conventual, establishing his headquarters there, plundering and plundering his wealth, ruining before his escape the battered population, whose monuments and defenses were ruined.

In April 1809, in the middle of the War of Independence French attack Alcantara, which is taken, and again ransacked while their defenses are destroyed by the French general Lapiche, which quickly had to abandon, under the pressure of the nearby Spanish army.

In the nineteenth century the seizure of Mendizábal, the county plunged into depression and underdevelopment, for the benefit of nobles and landowners who agreed to huge and rich properties, while the economic purposes that motivated these facts were not met and the consequences were relegated the territory and its people for centuries to backwardness and ostracism.

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Antonio García Candelas        Suggestions and impressions

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