Arco de los Blanco - Cadiz
The arch is one of the entrances to Cadiz city centre districts; the Pópulo neighborhood. It was the first Puerta de Tierra in the city and was located next to the Castle of the Villa.
Different constructions were added to the original span, which have transformed its appearance over the years. Adjacent to the wide vault that makes up the passageway, the Blanco family, from whom the door takes its current name, built a chapel in the seventeenth century dedicated to the Virgen de Los Remedios. This chapel has since disappeared.
In its early days the arch was called Puerta de Tierra, because it was in front of the schooner or isthmus. Later it was called Santa María, as the entrance to this suburb.
The arch houses an alabaster image of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, a sculpture of Italian origin, perhaps from the middle of the sixteenth century.
This arch was the one that suffered the most from abandonment over the years and it was so close to collapse in 1602 that it had to be extensively repaired.
About 1621, the Blanco family requested authorization to carve a chapel next to the arch (at their expense), this work was completed in 1635.
In 1642 Don Felipe Marzón y Blanco, Knight Regidor and patron of the chaple, was authorized to build a balcony over the arch that would extend to the corner of the castle’s tower on the right.
In the nineteenth century, the roof was extended and the part facing the street was covered, eliminating the open corridor.
The archaeological complex of Arcos de los Blanco was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest on April 22, 1949.
Location
Located on Calle Mesón.
