THE FIRST APPROACH

Medellín is a town that is located in Badajoz, in the province of Extremadura, founded by Romans.
Extremadua is well-known for being the place where conquerors Hernán Cortés and Pizarro were born. It is a land of emigration first occupied by the Romans, then by the Muslims and after by the Christians that wanted it for their reign of Castille in the Middle Ages.

Medellín. Aerial showing the castle, the bridge over
Guadiana river, the Santiago church, the Saint Martin
church and the hill where the castle was erected.

Extremadura was a wealthy place in the ages of emigration to conquer the New World, and that led to the construction of monuments, monasteries, convents and churches, but starting in the XVIth Century to the XIXth and to nowadays too, the economy has been suffering damage.

One of the biggest damage has been the wars (from Napoleon to the Spanish Civil War), but despite them, the Roman heritage is really visible, as it still preserves many monuments from that era. The most recent one is the Roman Theatre discovered in 2007, which is the main archaeological site in Spain nowadays, and belongs to the Vitrubius theatre-model.

The Roman Theatre, seen from the skene.

The theatre is in the unique slope of the city that leads to the XIVth Century-castle (destroyed and re-erected), and it is located besides the church of Santisago, a church constructed between the XIIIth and the XVIIth Centuries over a Roman temple´s podium.

Santiago church's lateral entrance.

Santiago church while approaching to it.

This church is in line with another church; Saint Martin's church, which was erected in the XIIth Century and, as a curiosity, is where Hernán Cortés was baptized.

Saint Martin's church.

Another aspect to take into account is that the plot is all surrounded by stone-paved roads that come from different points of the town until the castle.

One of the ways to arrive from the town to the plot.

Regarding the materials, all the path is made by stone pavimentation, as it is the prinecipal material in all the view; the Theatre, the churches and the castle are all constructed in stone. However, the fence that separates the uper part of the path from the gradient is made by corten-steel profiles.

Stone pavement.

The corten-steel profiles fence amongst the path
way to the castle.

Vegetation is mainly composed by some olive trees that are spread amongst the arid terrain.

The olive trees of the plot.

Thus, we can say that it is a unique place from the archaeological, architectural, historical, cultural and landscape views. It is a place where the sun hits with no more natural shadow than the few olive trees and the same for the rain protection; in winter there is nothing that will protect one from the common downpoors of Badajoz´s Novembers.