Letona Tower

Anyone arriving in Letona, a small village and concejo in the Álava municipality of Zigoitia, will come across a building that plays a trick on the eye: Letona Tower, also known as the Hurtado de Mendoza Tower, looks like a fortress, but its true purpose lay elsewhere. Rather than to protect, it was designed to impress, to make it clear to neighbours and visitors alike who was in charge and which surname deserved respect.

Its construction dates from the late 16th century or the early years of the 17th, a time when the old medieval towers had long since left their military role behind. Noble families kept on building them, but now as manorial residences in which height and solidity were, above all, a symbol of prestige and lineage.

This explains why the observant visitor can still spot a few defensive features in its stonework. They shouldn't be taken too literally: they are more of a nod to tradition, a reminder of what these towers had been in earlier centuries, built into a structure conceived first and foremost to be lived in with comfort and distinction.

The tower can't be understood on its own. It forms part of an ensemble that also includes the palace of the López de Letona family, and seeing the two buildings together gives a fairly accurate picture of how life was organised among Álava's minor rural nobility at the turn of the 17th century. It's a peaceful stop, ideal for those who enjoy reading history in the stones of villages and not only in the great monuments.