The legend of Mansabora

This building dates from the 16th century and it stands on the remains of a cistern from the 12th century, where it was formally known as the old Almohad Alcazar. In the main façade, there are two large baroque shields with a crown above them referred to as the numerous Cáceres lineages, such as:Torres, Ulloa, Carvajal, Golfin, Castro, Espadera.

Legend says that everything happened on a day like today, in the year of the Lord in 1229, when Cáceres was ruled by a haughty, arrogant Arabic kaid, who had no more than a daughter whom he adored. The Mansabora Muslin Princess, daughter of the lord of the city, she fell in love with a Christian captain that besieged the city called Al-Qazeres at that time. They both tried to see each other secretly because they didn't want to relieve their love.

In the meantime, the battles intensified. The king increased the protection of his daughter. The captain needed to fight night and day, making it imposible for the two lovers to see each other. However, one night, the Christian Captain met the princess in the outskirts of the city. The princess, listening to her heart, went in search of her beloved Captain. After a couple of days, the city fell into the hands of the Christian army, after destroying all of the defenses and killing the majority of its inhabitants. The king called his daughter, who confessed that she had given the keys of the city to the man whom she loved. The king, angered, placed a hex on the princess: “until the children of the prophet return to reconquer the city lost by her fault, she became a golden hen that will tramp the streets of the city forever". Her twelve maids, who also turned into golden chicks, would wander with her. Sometimes, they have been seen during the night of San Jorge, when they restart their human form, crying in the streets of Cáceres.

Another version of the legend says that the king locked his daughter in the cistern from the Casa de las Veletas where she would die slowly drowned in its waters. In fact, there are those who say that on the night of San Juan, they hear her agony and screams coming from the chambers of the cistern.