CASTLES OF THE WORLD - LA MOTAID92930053
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 coloured image of the castle of La Mota, located in the town of Medina del Campo in Valladolid. During the reign of Juan II in Castile, work began on the construction of the castle, the walls of which were adapted and supported by the old medieval walls from the 12th century.
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 |
La Mota Castle
“In the flat Castilian countryside, sun-scorched site of the most unbridled adventures and conflicts, rises the silhouette of the watchtower of La Mota, bare and toasted, with the coarse diadem of its broken arches...”(Maravillas del pasado)
At the end of the 11th century, when Christian rule was consolidated in the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula with the capture of Toledo, the town of Medina del Campo was rebuilt and resettled on what is now La Mota hill. Its first boundary was an irregularly laid out wall of concrete, made of lime and very hard aggregate, part of which is still preserved. The town grew considerably in the following centuries, spreading over both sides of the River Zapardiel, with a distinction made between the town of Medina and the precinct known as Villa Vieja (‘Old Town’), which the chronicles referred to as La Mota, the motte, indicating a raised place. That is exactly what it is: the fortress of Medina del Campo rises on a hillock in the midst of the Castilian plain, making it visible from various kilometres around and inspiring admiration and respect.
This exceptional 15th-century structure built in the Mudéjar style almost entirely of brick, has a double bailey. The outer one is surrounded by a deep and wide moat, crossed via a drawbridge, and its arched gateway, set between two round crenellated turrets, still bears the coat of arms of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. The inner bailey, the castle proper, has a trapezoidal floor plan and comprises four towers of varying size, plus a superb keep, which towers more than 40 metres in height over this town of the province of Valladolid. This thickly walled and sturdy tower, crowned with twin turrets at each corner and set with small balconies with machicolations and their corresponding battlements, still retains the arches from which a further turret was meant to rise.
Describing the long and remarkable history of this castle in a few lines is a complex task. Some of Spain’s most illustrious figures have walked its ramparts and courtyards: Isabella I of Castile, the Infante Juan of Castile, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Hernando Colón, among others. So we should again turn to the book Maravillas del pasado (‘Wonders of the Past’) for this: “Along its passageways, through its underground galleries, in its chambers and towers, illustrious shadows still linger: that of Cesare Borgia, unflinching, who fled one October night; that of the neurotic Henry IV of Castile, in his cap; that of the terrible Pedro de Bendaña, mayor of Castronuño, the most faithful executioner of Castile... Once a nest of fiery passions, a prison for tormented souls, La Mota Castle today is nothing more than the ghost of that energy, an imperishable memory, the sleep of one who suffers a nightmare...”
La Mota is one of the largest Spanish castles in terms of surface area, together with the Castilian fortresses of Gormaz (province of Soria) and Peñafiel (province of Valladolid). The government of Castile and León is currently the owner of the castle, which is open to tourism and cultural use.