El Salvador Tower

The El Salvador tower is one of Teruel's Mudéjar towers declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is of brick decorated with green and white ceramic, and inside you climb between its two towers, one inside the other, up to the belfry. It houses the interpretation centre for Teruel's Mudéjar architecture.

What the tower is like

It was finished in the first quarter of the 14th century, probably shortly after the San Martín one, which it imitates; the church next door is Baroque, because the medieval one collapsed in 1677. It stands on Calle de El Salvador, inside the walls and a few metres from the Portal de Guadalaviar, and has a street passage at its base, a feature of Teruel's Mudéjar towers.

Its central body repeats the scheme of the Almohad minarets: an outer tower that wraps an inner one. Between the two run the corridors and staircases you climb, covered by corbelled brick vaults. On the outside, the brick panels form intersecting mixtilinear arches, eight-pointed stars and zigzag bands, with pieces of glazed ceramic in green, from copper oxide, and white, from tin: tiles, plates and discs, small columns and stars. It is crowned by a belfry of Christian design, with two rows of openings. It served as a belfry, a clock and a watchtower.

What you visit

The climb passes through the stacked rooms of the tower, covered with rib vaults, and ends at the belfry. In the Alarife room, a character, Abdalá Ramí, tells the history of the city, how the tower was built and its legends. The others are devoted to Mudéjar in Teruel, with a model of the city in the 14th century, to Mudéjar through time, with the building materials, and to Mudéjar in space, with its geography.

Hours and price

Mornings from 11:00 to 14:00 and afternoons from 16:30 to 18:30, according to the tower's website; allow at least 45 minutes. Entry: €3; reduced €2.50 for children aged 7 to 17; under-7s free. Groups of more than 20 must book. It is sold only at the ticket desk, not online. Telephone 978 60 20 61; email [email protected].

The tower is a short step from the Escalinata and Plaza del Torico, and a few minutes from the cathedral. With children, the model of the medieval city helps them understand what they then see from above.