{"id":2757,"date":"2014-11-12T11:10:03","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T11:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spainexchange.com\/?p=2757"},"modified":"2014-11-12T11:10:03","modified_gmt":"2014-11-12T11:10:03","slug":"el-alcazar-toledo-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spainexchange.com\/articles\/el-alcazar-toledo-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"El Alcazar, Toledo, Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are you planning a trip in the near future to the beautiful and quite historic region of Toledo, Spain, the capital city of the Autonomous Community of Castile La Mancha?\u00a0 Have you set to the task yet of planning out an itinerary for your trip; making a list of the various sites and attractions you\u2019d like to visit during your stay?\u00a0 The city of Toledo, which is located in the heart of the Iberian Peninsula, is a very popular destination for travelers and tourists, largely due to its abundance of historical structures, commemorative monuments, and a number of churches, mosques and synagogues that tell together tell the story of the city\u2019s history and its reputation as a place of great religious diversity and tolerance.\u00a0 One of the oldest structures you\u2019ll find in the city is El Alcazar, which was originally built during Roman times when Toledo was an important Celtiberian city.\u00a0 To help you become a bit more familiar with this famous structure, below we have provided a brief profile, including some interesting information regarding its history, construction and the role it played during the Spanish Civil War.<br \/>\n<strong>El Alcazar:\u00a0 Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Alcazar of Toledo is a stone fortress, situated, intentionally, in the highest part of Toledo\u2014a strategy often used in the construction these types of fortifications for defense purposes.\u00a0 The structure was originally built during Roman times, and functioned as a Roman Palace in the 3<sup>rd<\/sup> century AD.\u00a0 Having been subjected to many a siege throughout various periods of history it has been rebuilt and restored many times.\u00a0 During the reigns of King Alfonso VI and King Alfonso X (Alfonso the Wise)\u2014Kings of Castile and Leon who ruled the region during the early 11<sup>th<\/sup> century 13<sup>th<\/sup> century, respectively\u2014it\u00a0 was rebuilt and became the first square fortress of its kind, with tall towers located on each of its four corners.<\/p>\n<p>El Alcazar was once again restored by Charles I and Philip II of Spain in the mid 16<sup>th<\/sup> century, using the design of architect Alonso de Covarrubias.\u00a0 In 1521, Hernan Cortes was received by Charles I at the Alcazar, following Cortes\u2019 conquest of the Aztecs.<\/p>\n<p>The facades of El Alcazar are built in the Renaissance style, and although the towers and crenellated defenses were originally designed by Covarrubias, they were ultimately completed by Spanish architect Juan de Herrera. After the last construction, it became the site of the Army offices and museum, a function it continues to serve today.\u00a0 It also houses one of Toledo\u2019s regional libraries.<\/p>\n<p><strong>El Alcazar and the Spanish Civil War<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>During the Spanish Civil War of the mid to late 1930s, the Colonel of the Nationalist forces, Jose Moscardo Ituarte, held the Alcazar against overwhelming Spanish Republican forces in the <em>Siege of the Alcazar<\/em>.\u00a0 The incident proved to be a central event of pride and lore for the Spanish people, particularly the tale of Moscardo\u2019s son, Luis.\u00a0 As the story goes, Republican forces kidnapped the young 16-year old just prior to the Siege.\u00a0 They demanded his father relinquish the Alcazar in exchange for his son\u2019s safe return.\u00a0 According to the retelling, Luis screamed to his father, \u201cSurrender or they will shoot me,\u201d to which his father replied, \u201cThen commend your soul to God, shout \u2018Visto Cristo Rey\u2019 and die like a hero.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moscardo refused to surrender.\u00a0 Reports at the time indicated that the Republican forces had indeed subsequently murdered Moscardo\u2019s son Luis for this refusal, although other historians believe he was killed sometime later as a reprisal for an air raid.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, the Siege of the Alcazar and its defense transformed the structure into a symbol for Spanish Nationalism.\u00a0 A far-right newspaper even adopted the name <em>El Alcazar<\/em>, using the publication as a mouthpiece for a group known as <em>Bunker<\/em>, a faction of loyal Francoists who opposed reform following Francisco Franco\u2019s death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you planning a trip in the near future to the beautiful and quite historic region of Toledo, Spain, the capital city of the Autonomous Community of Castile La Mancha?\u00a0 Have you set to the task yet of planning out an itinerary for your trip; making a list of the various sites and attractions you\u2019d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toledo"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>El Alcazar, Toledo, Spain<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spainexchange.com\/articles\/el-alcazar-toledo-spain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"El Alcazar, Toledo, 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