A document from the Municipal Archive of 1481 describes in great detail the obligations of the different social groups regarding the wall: the knights and noblemen had to perform sentry duties outside; the common people of the city kept watch from the battlements; the peasants from outside were responsible for repairing the battlement parapets, cleaning the ditches and bringing the necessary stone, lime and sand; the Jews provided the iron and the Moors were directly responsible for the stonemasonry work. So the secret of how this impressive structure was maintained was that everyone played a role. It may be that this has permeated people’s collective memory and for this reason there is not a single inhabitant of Ávila who is not proud of their city walls.
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