CASTLES OF THE WORLD - BUTRONID92930054
The Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre presents a new series of collector coins dedicated to the "Castles of the World". It has been difficult to make the selection, taking into account that in Spain alone there are more than 10,000 castles registered, so we have had the collaboration of the Spanish Association of Friends of the Castles for an appropriate choice of castles to represent.
The collection is made up of sixteen coins, which can be purchased individually, as a complete collection and in sets of four coins each.
The obverse shows a colourful image of the castle of Butrón, in the province of Vizcaya. It is located on a hill, on top of some rocks, and surrounded by a centuries-old forest. For more than three hundred years, from the 16th century onwards, the castle was the scene of continuous and bloody battles between two sides of the Biscayan nobility.
On the reverse (common to all the coins), within a central circular area, the value of the coin 1.5 EURO appears; to its right, the mint mark; at the bottom, the legend CASTLES OF THE WORLD. An allegory of the structure of the castles surrounds the legends in the central area.
| Series | Castles Of The World |
| Year | 2023 |
| Colour | Yes |
| Diameter (mm) | 33 |
| Face Value (Euro) | 1.5 |
| Metal | Cupronickel |
| Weight (g) | 15 |
| Maximum Mintage (units) | 5,000 |
Butrón Castle
In the municipality of Gatika, in the Basque Country north of Bilbao, on a bend of the River Butrón and amidst centuries-old forests, stands one of the most beautiful and picturesque castles in Spain. But this peculiar castle was not always like this.
Back in the eighth century, in the early medieval period, a certain Captain Gamíniz built a house for the Butrón family in the parish of Gatika that was given the name Ganzorris. A tower was built onto it in the 11th century. Several centuries later, the fifth lord of Butrón built a castle on top of the old tower, and from whose walls hung the feared banner of the Gómez Butrón family. Over the years, and after numerous battles between the bands led by the nobles of Biscay, it was gradually abandoned and was left to crumble.
Over its ruins, Narciso Salabert y Pinedo, the Marquis of Torrecilla, commissioned the architect Francisco de Cubas, at the end of the 19th century, to build the castle that we can see today in the beautiful Gothic Revival style characteristic of the period, but significantly altering its original medieval appearance, with an architecture reminiscent of the grand fantasy castles built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, such as Neuschwanstein Castle.
Butrón Castle, located six kilometres south of the town of Plenzia, stands on more than three hectares of land and is surrounded by exotic and native species, making it a site of singular and majestic beauty. Dominating the complex and standing more than 50 metres in height is a large keep crowned with crenellated turrets, clearly inspired by the keep of the Alcazar of Segovia.
Walls of exaggerated thickness and strong foundations, conical roofs, spiral staircases, battlements, passages, loopholes, machicolations, corner turrets... these are only some of the characteristic elements of the military architecture of the Middle Ages that can be seen in this imposing, privately owned fortress – the most famous in the province of Biscay – a visit to which, albeit only on the outside, is a must if you should travel through these green lands of northern Spain.