Badajoz bastioned enclosure information

This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it. (June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Badajoz bastioned enclosure
Perimeter of old Badajoz in Spain
"Plan of the siege that the rebel put on the city of Badajoz" (Planta del sitio que el revelde puso a la ciudad de Badajoz, sic) by Kungl Krigsarkivet in 1658.
Coordinates	38°52′55″N 6°58′08″W / 38.881914°N 6.968992°W / 38.881914; -6.968992
Type	Fortified and bastioned enclosure
Area	6541 m of preserved wall (including the citadel-castle)
Site information
Owner	Badajoz City Council
Condition	Restored; in very good condition
Site history
Built	17th to 18th century (prolonging an earlier defensive system from the 9th to the 16th century)
Built by	System of Sébastien Le Prestre, Marquis de Vauban or simply Vauban.
Materials	According to the different rehabilitation, masonry, dimension stone, brick and concrete
Bien de Interés Cultural as Conjunto histórico

The bastioned system of the Spanish city of Badajoz consists of a military fortification formed by a set of defensive walls, city gates, bridges, forts, towers, bastions, hornworks, moats, tunnels and ravelins, among other defensive elements. It was built between the 17th and 18th centuries, following the defensive construction theories popularized by the French military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre, better known as the Marquis de Vauban, as an extension of a previous defensive enclosure that protected this border town.^[1]

Ever since Ibn Marwan founded Badajoz (over an earlier Visigothic settlement, since settlements in Badajoz date back to prehistoric times), the city had a stronghold character that was maintained until the 20th century. This is due to the privileged strategic location at a crossroads of two communication routes: one is the one from Castile to Andalusia, and the other from the plateau to Lisbon. In addition to being a border city with Portugal, this situation has been, on some occasions, a source of advantages for the development of Badajoz and on others, many more, a place of confrontation for various armies over the last few centuries. For these reasons, the city was protected by several defensive enclosures.^[2]

The first fortifications were carried out by Ibn Marwan, who ordered the erection of mortar walls. This was followed by the restoration carried out by Abd Allah Ibn Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Rahman, grandson of the founder of Badajoz, in 913. Later, in 1030, it was rebuilt by Abdallah ibn Al-Aftas, the first Aftasid king of the Taifa of Badajoz. In 1169 the Alcazaba was built, very similar to the present one with some parts coming from the first period of the Almohad domination. The last Muslim restoration was ordered by Abu Yahya ibn Abi Sinan, when he was governor of the city at the beginning of the 13th century.^[3]

After the confrontations that took place between Castile and Portugal during the 14th century, the relations between both were normalized in an atmosphere of peace that lasted almost two and a half centuries. But in 1640, when Portugal became independent from the Hispanic Monarchy, Badajoz became a border city and because of its geostrategic position, the Castilian authorities realized the need to improve its current defenses. It was then when the authorities of the Crown and Badajoz made the decision to carry them out. Among the various possibilities offered by the military engineers, it was decided to undertake the works following the system devised by Vauban. However, these works were not carried out in an orderly fashion, but rather it was improvisation, in the midst of a precarious economic situation. The reforms and improvements were successively made to the existing defenses.^[4]