From the
Andalusian period you can enjoy the imposing Moorish Alcazaba, the oldest
Muslim fortification of the Iberian Peninsula. According to an inscription that
was installed on its main door, the Alcazaba was inaugurated in the year 835
and, at the beginning, it served to protect the Moslem rulers and subjects of
the revolts of the population in Merida, besides to dominate the passage of the
bridge on the Guadiana River.

The perimeter, almost square, of the fortification measures about 550
metres. Townhouses along the wall, which serve as buttresses, are distributed
25 quadrangular-based towers, some of Christian origin. The main access to the
Alcazaba and the one that communicated with the interior of the city were
protected by a small pillbox or barbican that was built in the place that
occupied one of the main gates of the Roman city. Of the different dependencies
that existed inside the enclosure, the cistern is preserved. This building is
accessed by two confronted doors that allow the passage to a distributor. Two
staircases allow the ascent and descent to the cistern that is supplied with
seepage of the water table of the Guadiana River. Above the distributor there
was a small mosque and above it a watchtower. In the enclosure of the Alcazaba
there are abundant archaeological and architectural testimonies of the
different cultural stages that the city has lived: dike of water containment of
the river, base of the gate of the bridge, wall, streets and houses of the
Roman period, Pilasters belonging to a large Visigoth building, a cistern from
the Andalusian period, Convent of the Order of Santiago, neo-gothic portico,
etc.