Casa Orduña y Castillo

Casa Orduña and Castle is a heritage site in El Castell de Guadalest, in the province of Alicante, formed by the old manor house of the Orduña family and the fortress of San José, integrated in the historic center of the municipality. It is a tourist-cultural resource that combines noble residential architecture with medieval defensive architecture, today it can be visited as an essential part of the local heritage. The Orduña House, also known as Casa Gran, was built after the great earthquake of 1644, although the sources consulted link it to the long period of influence of the Orduña family in the government of the valley. It currently serves as a museum and preserves the housing typology of the local elites of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The fortress of the complex is the Castle of San José, of Islamic origin and dating from the eleventh century, built on the rock in the highest position of the municipality. The heritage interest of the complex lies in the relationship between the stately residence and the fortress, linked to the historical fabric of the village, declared a historic-artistic site in 1974 and later declared a Site of Cultural Interest. The very location of the building, attached to the surroundings of the castle and the old fabric of Guadalest, explains its value as a testimony of the stately and defensive organization of the enclave. As for the style, the Orduña House does not present a single stylistic ascription clearly highlighted in the sources, so it should be described with caution as a historic manor house of modern times; however, the fortress responds to a military work of medieval Islamic tradition. The complex is precisely located in El Castell de Guadalest, Alicante, at the coordinates indicated.