Plaza Mayor de Almagro is a town square located in the city of

Almagro Almagro () may refer to: People *Diego de Almagro (1475–1538), Spanish explorer *Diego Almagro II (1520–1542), assassin of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro *Luis Almagro (born 1963), Uruguayan lawyer, diplomat and politician *Nicolás ...

, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. Amalgro is designated a

conjunto histórico In Spain, the legal designation ''Conjunto histórico'' (formerly ''Conjunto Histórico-Artístico'' or "Historic-Artistic Grouping") is part of the national system of heritage listing. It is applied to buildings in a given locality. It is typicall ...

(a heritage listing), and the square is of architectural interest. It is the location of the city hall and a historic theatre, the

Corral de comedias de Almagro Corral de comedias de Almagro ("Courtyard theatre of Almagro") is located at Plaza Mayor in Almagro, Castile-La Mancha, Spain.This comedy theatre was built on the shady side of Plaza Mayor in Almagro, bordered to the right with the house of Don ...

. Amalgro is a name of Arabic origin (المغرة , ''al-magra'') referring to the local red clay, which is one of the materials used in the plaza mayor. Probably the settlement began as a small

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

castle, possibly on the site now occupied by the hermitage of San Juan. The fief was bestowed on Gonzalo Yáñez de Noboa, ninth Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava, after the Battle of the Navas de Tolosa, and the grant was confirmed by Ferdinand III in 1222. Amalgro became an important centre for the Order of Calatrava and the area which became known as '' Campo de Calatrava''. The medieval plaza mayor was redeveloped by the Fugger family, German bankers who under Charles V acquired considerable possessions in Spain and its empire. During the 16th and 17th centuries they had

concession Concession may refer to: General * Concession (contract) (sometimes called a concession agreement), a contractual right to carry on a certain kind of business or activity in an area, such as to explore or develop its natural resources or to opera ...

s on mines in La Mancha, including the important mercury mines of Almadén, in return for loans to the Spanish government. It was under their influence that the architecture of the square took on its present form with the distinctive galleries along two sides. Almagro-Plaza-mayor-panoramica.jpg, Panorama.

References

{{Coord, 38, 53, 19, N, 3, 42, 43, W, region:ES_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Architecture in Spain Baroque architecture in Castilla–La Mancha Plazas in Spain Buildings and structures in the Province of Ciudad Real Almagro, Ciudad Real