Puerta de Purchena

Puerta de Purchena

This actually not a gate, but a square - it is located near Plaza Vieja.

The Puerta de Purchena where the old Pechina gate of the city walls stood. Its name was altered after the Christian Reconquest by a transcription error, confusing the names of two Almeria towns, Pechina (an important city named Bayyana in the Muslim era) and Purchena. The puerta was located here as the natural entrance to the city from the western side, when arriving from the nearest city, Granada.

The eponymous gate disappeared after the demolition of the city walls in 1855. The plaza is typical of 19th-century bourgeois architecture, funded by the city's new-found wealth brought by mining. Notable buildings include the elegant Casa de las Mariposas, built in 1911, which was Almeria's tallest and largest building in its day, set on a corner with four storeys.

On the very top of the cupola is a glass, which the architect, owners and workmen used to toast the building when it was finished. It stayed there until the building, now owned by Cajamar bank, was restored in 2008.

Today Puerta de Purchena is in the heart of the city, close to Plaza de la Constitucion (also known as Plaza Vieja) and the Alcazaba.

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