Calvary Gate

The Puerta del Calvario is a monumental gate of the bastioned wall of Olivenza, in the province of Badajoz, and is the only preserved gate of the old defensive enclosure. Its location, in the surroundings of the Paseo Pizarro and next to the walled system, responds to the military function of controlling access to the town in a border context with Portugal. The sources consulted place it in the seventeenth century, within the modern military architecture linked to the Olivetan bastioned enclosure. It is part of a defensive complex with wall, moat and bastions, and recent interventions have documented the gallery of the gate, more than a hundred meters of wall and remains associated with the fortified environment. Typologically it is a tower-door or wall gate integrated in a bastioned fortification, not an isolated religious or civil building. Its heritage value lies in its role as a historical access to the city and in being the last visible testimony of the ancient gates of the defensive enclosure of Olivenza. The recent rehabilitation has made it possible to enhance the value of its constructive base and to recover the reading of the defensive system, reinforcing its interest as a singular element of Olivenza's historical heritage.