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| MUR CASTLE AND ITS SPATIAL ORGANIZATION IN 10th-12th CENTURY (Pallars County-Catalonia) | ||
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Marta Sancho i Planas - Universitat de Barcelona - Grup de Recerca d'Arqueologia Medieval i Postmedieval
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| THE CASTLE: DESCRIPTION AND BUILDING CHARACTERISTICS | ||
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Castle of Mur from the south |
Mur castle before de last reforms | |
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The present structure
of the castle is attributed to the domain of Arnau Mir de Tost, during the first
part of the 11th century. However it seems to remain some older parts and later
unremarkable removals.
The castle of Mur stands on a rocky base which is used as foundations. It presents a triangular plan with round corners. It has few openings through the exterior, only four loopholes. The castle of Mur presents a stone face joined with a very hard mortar of lime and sand which is of a great quality. |
The blocks of stone, which have a medium size, do
not present a very neat cut, although they form a regular face, alternating some blocks
sideways.
The covers were made of flagstones from the country. The stone used to build the castle was taken out from the base where it stands on. |
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The most singular element of the castle is the round tower next to the front door. It is 16m high and it has an external diameter of 8m. Its door is 8m over the ground level. The wall in its base is 3m thick. The inside is structured in five levels, two of them under the entrance level.
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Round tower: external view |
Round tower: the door
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Each level can be
perfectly seen thanks to the brackets that supported the beams and the floor should have
been made of wood. A flat roof may have crowned the tower.
There is only a window that goes trough the wall trough a niche where there would have been an altar of a small chapel located on the uppermost floor of the castle.
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Round tower |
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| Round tower: internal view |
