Castillo de las Cinco Esquinas, Medieval castle in Cazorla, Spain.
Castillo de las Cinco Esquinas is a medieval fortification standing on Salvatierra Hill, featuring a distinctive pentagonal tower and rectangular courtyards within. Enclosure walls remain partially visible on the eastern side, while the northern and western sections show only foundation traces.
The area was taken by Fernando III of Castile between 1225 and 1230 and granted in 1231 as the Adelantamiento de Cazorla to the archbishopric of Toledo. The fortress itself dates from the second half of the 14th century, perhaps from the time of Archbishop Pedro Tenorio. It was raised while Castile was weak and the Nasrid kingdom of Granada prosperous under Mohammed V, who took Algeciras, Ronda and Gibraltar.
The castle's name comes from the five-sided keep, whose three right-angled sides measure about 13.8, 14.7 and 14.2 metres. The keep's lower chamber is covered by two brick sail vaults resting on a pointed arch supported by pilasters on the east and west walls. The spiral staircase is housed in the two shorter sides of the pentagon.
The castle sits at 1,176 m on the rocky, flat-topped Cerro Salvatierra, on the western slope of the Sierra de Cazorla, near the summit. The enclosure is 62 m by 20 m; the east wall survives best, while the north and west walls are reduced to foundation traces. The tower entrance, 1.50 m wide and under a pointed vault, opens on the north side toward the courtyard.
The keep's pentagonal plan has three right-angled sides of 13.80, 14.70 and 14.20 metres, while the two shorter sides of 9.80 metres enclose the spiral staircase. The entrance, 1.50 metres wide and covered by a pointed vault, opens on the north side facing the parade ground, and above it four corbels still mark where a machicolated balcony stood for vertical fire.
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