The Clock Tower of Ateca is a structure in Ateca, Spain. A

leaning tower This is a list of leaning towers. A leaning tower is a tower which, either intentionally or unintentionally (due to errors in design, construction, or subsequent external influence such as unstable ground), does not stand perpendicular to the g ...

of Mudejar style, it was built in 1560 on an ancient medieval tower of the castle of Ateca. The work was carried out by the masters Domingo and the Morisco Ameçot, a resident of Calatayud. On an old tower of the castle of Ateca, the bell tower was built, with

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

decoration and

Mudéjar Mudéjar ( , also , , ca, mudèjar , ; from ar, مدجن, mudajjan, subjugated; tamed; domesticated) refers to the group of Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period despite the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for ...

tradition.

Description

It was built in 1560 by the master Domingo and the

Morisco Moriscos (, ; pt, mouriscos ; Spanish for "Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Roman Catholic church and the Spanish Crown commanded to convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed the open ...

Ameçot and was carried out, specifically, to place a clock that was going to regulate the life of the town from that moment, probably following the Zaragoza influence of the Torre Nueva, that had the same purpose. The clock was installed in the year 1561 and was built in Zaragoza by Johan Escalante. The

tradition tower consists of two bodies crowned with an octagonal top. The lower body was built on a tower of the castle of Ateca and is built in mortar or plaster mortar, and presents the smooth walls. It is delimited by a cornice of brick of powerful flight. The upper body is built of brick and is also square but smaller; it is divided into two floors, the lower one contains the

clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and t ...

on one of its sides, and the other three have double blind semicircular windows. The octagonal top has eyelets on all sides, and from there the transition is made to the

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...

that covers the structure.

Legal protection

By order of September 6, 2002, published in the BOA of September 30, 2002 of the Department of Culture and Tourism, it is declared Bien Catalogado of the Aragonese Cultural Heritage.

External links

City Council of Ateca: The Clock Tower

The bells of the clock tower of Ateca

Sources

*''The information in this article is based on that in its Spanish equivalent''. {{Subject bar , portal1= Architecture , portal2= Spain Inclined towers in Spain Mudéjar architecture in Aragon Clock towers in Spain Ateca Bell towers in Spain