Castillo de Santa Olalla de Cala

Castillo de Santa Olalla del Cala is a fortified castle in the built-up area of Santa Olalla del Cala, in Andalucía, Spain. It stands on the «Cerro del Castillo», where remains of a Bronze Age necropolis have been found. It is protected as a property of cultural interest with the category of monument under Spain’s general castle-protection decree of 22 April 1949 and Law 16/1985.

The castle has an elongated, irregular plan oriented north–south, with a walled area of 4610 m². It includes 10 stretches of wall and 10 towers: four semicircular cubic towers and six polygonal ones, three of which have vaulted roofs. Its courtyard of arms has a level difference of more than 16 metres, descending from north to south. The walls combine local riolithic stone masonry with a core of lime mortar, rubble and small stones.

Sancho IV el Bravo ordered its construction in 1293 to consolidate a frontier defensive line along the western foothills of Sierra Morena, known as the Banda Gallega. It was strengthened in 1386-87 and again in 1466-67. Changes made from probably the sixteenth century until the middle of the eighteenth century accommodated firearms, while later alterations allowed the interior to be used for burials. During the nineteenth century and early twentieth century it became a municipal cemetery, before closing in 1917 and falling into abandonment and material loss.

Archaeological campaigns have documented continuous occupation of the hill from the Palaeolithic to the Roman Imperial period, including the Bronze Age, the Iron Age and evidence of a castro of the Beturia Céltica. Between 1989 and 2002, archaeological study, consolidation and restoration work were carried out under architect Dª Inmaculada Jiménez Aguilar. The surviving castle is classified in the record as a cist, a small stone-built coffin-like container or ossuary; such burial monuments occur across Europe and the Middle East.

Castillo de Santa Olalla de Cala is a cist in Santa Olalla del Cala, Spain. Wikidata describes it as: cultural property in Santa Olalla de Cala, Spain. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the Spanish article "Castillo de Santa Olalla del Cala", shown in the original language.