alcazar

Spanish alcázar

Form of military architecture of medieval Spain, generally rectangular with defensible walls and massive corner towers. Inside was an open space (patio) surrounded by chapels, salons, hospitals, and sometimes gardens. The finest surviving example from the Moorish period is Sevilla's Alcázar Palace; begun in 1181 under the Almohads and continued by the Christians, it exhibits both Moorish and Gothic features, including a decagonal brick tower, the Torre del Oro.

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