What to do · Elche
Calahorra Tower
Information
- Price
- €2 · free on Sundays
- Duration
- 30 min
- Season
- All year; closed on Mondays
- Who it's for
- For everyone
What it is
La Calahorra is the largest tower left of Elche's wall, on Calle Uberna, a minute from the basilica. It was 25 metres tall and the 1829 earthquake took ten off. You can visit the inside: €2, €1 reduced, and free on Sundays. It opens Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 15:00 to 18:00, and on Sundays and public holidays from 10:00 to 14:00.
History
The tower was built in the late 12th or early 13th century, in the Almohad period, as part of the defences of the Islamic city. Together with another smaller watchtower opposite, it guarded the Lucentina gate, the most important of the Vila Murada, which opened onto the road to Alicante. Over the centuries its use changed: it was lodging for governors and an almudín, the lord's grain store; in the 15th and 16th centuries a manor house of two floors and a basement was added on the outside, and in the 19th century it became a middle-class residence. From that last stage come the neo-Moorish windows on the west side and the crenellated brick top. Today it stands about 15 metres tall.
What is inside
La Calahorra houses the permanent exhibition of the municipal art gallery, with works from the 17th to the 20th centuries: three paintings by Joaquín Sorolla and pictures by Ignacio Pinazo, Cecilio Pla and Muñoz Degrain, as well as Elche painters such as Pedro Ibarra or Vicente Albarranch. Some rooms keep early 20th-century frescoes with views of the city and neo-Moorish and neo-Gothic decoration.
The most curious thing is on the ground floor: the Egyptian-decorated room where the Masonic lodge founded in Elche in 1878 used to meet, painted by the scholar Pedro Ibarra. On the floor you can still see Masonic symbols and a trapdoor that led to the basement.
Tickets
The €1 reduced rate is for students, groups, Carnet Jove holders, pensioners and large families; children under 6 go in free. It is closed on Mondays, 25 December and 1 January; on 24 and 31 December it opens on public-holiday hours. The €8 museum pass is valid. It is a minute from the basilica of Santa María and two from the Arab Baths.
With teenagers
