LOCATION AND TOPOGRAPHY
The town of Alegría-Dulantzi is located on the plains of the Llanada Alavesa, on the natural corridor that leads from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Navarre and Guipúzcoa.
The centre of the town was originally founded upon the left bank of the River Alegría, taking up the northern slopes of a hill, controlling three important routes - towards Rioja, crossing the Montaña Alavesa hills, towards the San Adrian mountain pass and, via Gamboa, towards Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa.
    HISTORIC EVOLUTION AND URBAN STRUCTURE

HISTORY		  
The foundation of the town of Alegría was part of the general movement that took place in Europe during the Late Middle Ages and which led to 69 new population centres being established in the Basque Country between the mid-twelfth and late-fourteenth centuries.
The Town Charter of the Foundation of Alegría de Dulançi dates from the 20th of October 1337; it was granted by King Alfonso XI in response to requests by people from six nearby villages for protection against the unfair practices of the nobility and to direct the agricultural surplus of the area into a weekly market. The inhabitants of these villages gathered in the new town, which had been constructed on the site previously occupied by the village of Dulançi, abandoning the rest, with the exception of Eguileta.
The vulnerability of the area led to the walling of the town and in its interior a fortress was built. However, this fortress, property of the nobility, was the source of disputes between its owner and the inhabitants of the town.
In 1443, during the war between the Brotherhoods of Álava, which supported the Lazcanos, the Lords of Alegría, and the Conde de Ayala, then Lord of Salvatierra, the troops of the latter, having won the battle, burnt down the town so that it could not shelter the defeated soldiers.
At the end of the 15th Century, Don Juan López de Lazcano, the Lord of the Town, ordered part of the town walls to be demolished in order to reconstruct the fortress, which had been burnt and destroyed at the same time as the rest of the town.
In 1501, the tower was sold to the Crown; from that day on, the governor of the tower was named by the King and it remained standing until at least the end of the 18th century.
STRUCTURE AND URBAN GROWTH  
The layout of the urban centre of Alegría was typical of a town built on a hillside: the main defence was at the highest point, the two main streets, Mayor and Fortaleza, followed the contours of the hill and the other transverse streets went from the fortress to the river, the town's natural moat, or simply between the fortress and the Calle Mayor.
Three bridges crossed the River Alegría, leading to the three gates at the north of the town:

 The first, to the west, joined the area of Dulantzi with the Calle Euskalerría, probably outside the walls, with an entrance to the walled enclosure at the end of the Calle Mayor.
 The second was the entry to the Cuesta de las Cabras, which led to the church, the square and the fortified tower.
 The third one crossed the river opposite the Calle del Arrabal; the original Town Gate was also located at the end of the Calle Mayor, with the Calle de San Blas within the walls and the Calle del Arrabal outside. This gate lasted until 1884.
It is possible that to the south, next to the fortress, a fourth gate gave way into the town from the Eguileta road.
The structure of public spaces was around the five main streets: Ibaiondo, Mayor, Fortaleza, Euskalerría and Arrabal, and two alleyways: Cuesta de la Fortaleza and Cuesta de las Cabras.
The Calle Mayor, also called "Calle Real" in some documents, lies on the route that goes from Vitoria to Salvatierra. It is the main street of the town, certainly its busiest and for many years the only one to be so defined.
On the whole, the medieval urban layout remains intact, although the walls and fortress have completely disappeared.
TYPES OF BUILDING  
No examples of medieval architecture have survived to the present day due to the fire of 1443. Only the Gothic layout remains, showing plots of land that had approximately six metres of frontage and were sixteen metres deep.
On the other hand, there are a great number of 16th century buildings that show the prosperity of the town at this time, with their round arched doorways in tapered stone. There are also two houses adorned with heraldic devices.

     OUTSTANDING STRUCTURES
 

The Fortress, or Torrealdea, since disappeared, was situated at the highest point of the town. It was surrounded by a wall with battlemented parapet and four circular angle towers and was protected by a moat with drawbridge, according to a report made to Felipe II in 1592.
In 1443, the fortress was sacked and razed to the ground by the troops of the Lord of Salvatierra; it was reconstructed by Don Juan López de Lazcano with stone taken from the city walls.
In 1501, it passed into Royal hands. It was probably after this that it was abandoned, beginning a process of deterioration that had made it uninhabitable by the beginning of the 17th century and completely in ruins by around 1770.
In 1783, its demolition was agreed upon and its materials were used in the construction of the Town Hall.

The Town Walls, of which few reports and absolutely no remains survive, were demolished at the end of the 15th century to reconstruct the Lazcano fortress.

The Church of San Blas has the remains of a medieval building on the exterior of its southern side. Upon it was built this late-Gothic structure at the end of the 15th and during much of the 16th centuries. At the end of the 15th century, the tower was demolished and its stone was used in the reconstruction of the fortress destroyed in 1443.
During the first half of the 17th century, the main altarpiece of San Blas was erected, the work of José de Angulo.
An outstanding feature is the neo-classical tower built by Juan Agustín de Echevarría from 1792 onwards. The same architect was responsible for the arched portico of the church.

The Town Hall closes the northern side of the town square. The building dates from 1788, and features a portico with three arches, a continuous balcony, the town's crest on the façade and a hipped roof.
The three buildings are situated around the Herriko Plaza, at the upper end of the town. The final defining element of the urban structure of Alegría-Dulantzi is the River Alegría, which flows past the northern side of the ancient walls, acting as a natural moat for the town.
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