Tower of San Cristóbal facts for kids
The Tower of San Cristóbal is a very old tower in Toledo, Spain. It used to be part of a church called San Cristóbal. This tower shows a special building style called Mudéjar. Mudéjar style mixes Christian and Islamic designs, often using brick and tile in beautiful ways.
The Tower's Story
The church that went with this tower might have started as a mosque. A person named Fathibn Ibrahim al'Umawi' founded a mosque there between 934 and 1013. We know for sure there was a church at this spot by the year 1187.
Later, in the 1400s, the church was changed to fit a more European style. But in 1842, the church building was taken down. Its parts were sold to people who then destroyed them.
By 1845, the church was in very bad shape, so it was completely torn down. The only part left was the tower. This tower was built on top of an even older minaret, which is a tower from a mosque. The tower we see today was rebuilt between the late 1100s and early 1200s. It is an early example of the Mudéjar style in Toledo.
What the Tower Looks Like
The Tower of San Cristóbal has a square shape. Inside, it has a central pillar, and stairs wrap around it. The tower is made from a type of brickwork called "taped masonry." At the bottom, before it was fixed up, it looked like it was made of large, cut stones.
The lower parts of the tower used stone blocks. The rest of the tower is made of brick. One of its walls even reused an old stone piece from the Visigothic time, which was many centuries ago!
The tower has special openings shaped like pointed horseshoe arches. These arches are framed by a slight bump in the wall. This style of arch is often seen in buildings from the Almohad Caliphate. You can also see this style in the Church of San Cipriano in Toledo. Even so, this design is quite rare for Mudéjar buildings in Toledo.
See also
In Spanish: Torre de San Cristóbal para niños
