Turns of Quarter
The turns of Quarter are a pair of twin towers , which belonged to the medieval Muraille which protected the old center from the city of Valence. They are located at the crossing of the street Guillén of Castro and of the Calle Quarter .
History of the turns of Quarter
The Turns of Quarter were built by the mestres in el noble art of will pedra Francesc Baldomar and Pere Counts at the 15th century, between the years 1441 and 1460. For this work also Tomás Oller and Jaume Pérez intervened. The style of the turns belongs to the Gothic style military late, imitating the turns or triumphal arch of the `Castell Nuevo' of Naples, conceived by the Majorquin Segrera and for which intervened of other Masters of the Couronne of Aragon when Naples was conquered by the troops of Alphonse V, Magnanime.These turns had to cross the war of succession, that of war of Independence against the French, the Cantonal Révolution and the Spanish civil war. One can still see in their thick walls the holes of the impacts caused by the balls of gun of the war of Independence.
As from 1626 and until the 18th century, they sheltered the prison of the women. Until 1874, one called them the towers of Lime because the Chaux which one used to coat the houses of Valence, was to enter by the door located between the two turns.
In 1931, they were declared Monumento Nacional and they were registered by the law of the 16/1985 with the Patrimonio Histórico Español .
The turns of Quarter are the remainders of the old medieval rampart of Valence, like the open Tours of Serranos towards north. The other doors of the city of Valence, were the doors (disappeared today) of San Vicente in the south and the Puerta del Mar towards the east or the port. These doors disappeared at the 19th century as well as the remainder of the wall which surrounded the ciutat calved , this in order to give work to the unemployed workmen and in order to increase the city.
As from the last decade of the 20th century, the Parrot escaped S and other exotic birds with their Masters, nidifié and are reproduce in the openings caused by artillery in their exterior facade. Today, with the 21e century, the turns of Quarter are always drawn up; one restores their exterior facade, blackened by exhaust fumes of the traffic which borrows the Quart hold and the Guillén Hold of Castro.
Origin of the name
The turns of Quarter, owe their name with the fact that they were located on the way which leads to the center of the city, since the place of Virgen where is the Cathédrale of Valence, to the village Quart of Poblet. The turns gave western access of the traffic coming from the Castille. The turns of Quarter were also called carries or portal of Cuarte.
Structure and style
The turns of Quarter were built in Opus caementicium (made masonry of lime and stones formatted in formwork). For the angles and the arcs, one used stones of size. The door of the city, made of a Roman arch is built out of stones of size. It formerly sheltered the guardian angel of the city and today one finds the weapons of the city there.The turns have the cylindrical shape on the side external and chamfered towards the interior of the wall, contrary to the Tours of Serranos which are polygonal. The turns have a notched upper part, with a stone terrace of size. These defensive towers practically do not have decoration. In their lowest part, they have a moulding which is completed towards the ground in a vertical wall in the shape of tilted slope.
In the part which looks towards the interior of the city, appear a series of opened parts, covered by vaults in intersecting ribs. Between the turns, with the top of the arc of the door, exists an opening by where one could attack those which would have liked to seize the door.
The provision of the turns compared to the old wall is slightly oblique or into diagonal, to adapt to the layout of the street Quart which did not enter perpendicular to the wall but into diagonal.