P465 - Spain - The Torre del Oro (Gold Tower), Seville

The Torre del Oro (Gold Tower), Seville, Spain (UNESCO WHS)

The Torre del Oro (Spanish: "Gold Tower") is a dodecagonal military watchtower in Seville, southern Spain, built by the Berbers during the Almohad dynasty in order to control access to Seville via the Guadalquivir river.

Constructed in the first third of the 13th century, the tower served as a prison during the Middle Ages and as a secure enclosure for the protection of precious metals periodically brought by the fleet of the Indies, another possible origin for the tower's name.

The tower is divided into three levels, with the third and upermost being circular in shape and added in 1760. This tower has a lesser known half sister: La Torre de la Plata, an octagonal tower.

黃金塔（西班牙語：Torre del Oro）是西班牙塞維亞的一座十二邊形的軍事瞭望塔，興建於13世紀的穆瓦希德王朝，以控制從瓜達爾基維爾河到達塞維亞的水路，為西班牙珍寶船隊定期從美洲帶回的貴金屬提供安全保護，這也可能是它名稱的來源。

黃金塔分為三級，最上層呈圓形，1760年增建。

一條大型鐵鏈從黃金塔底水中拉開，可以封鎖河道。對岸的另一個定位點已經拆除或消失，有可能毀於1755年裡斯本大地震。1248年在收復失地運動中，該市用鐵鏈防禦卡斯蒂利亞艦隊。

今天黃金塔，已被修復，作為海軍博物館，包含版畫，信件，模型，工具和歷史檔案。博物館概述了塞維亞的海軍歷史和這條河流的重要性。

黃金塔出現在帝國時代II和帝國時代III中。

References sources : wikipedia