Segovia Castles
Castle of Castilnovo.
14th - 16th century castle, reformed between the 19th and the
20th centuries. Privately owned.
The present castle is thought to have been built on a previous
structure, probably a small fortress.
Trapezoid ground plan, with six round and rectangular turrets
of brick and masonry. Arched, parted windows.
Rectangular turrets, one if which leads inside the building.
Built in stone, with adobe sections.
Castle of Coca
The Castillo de Coca is located in Segovia (Castilla y León),
more specifically in the Segovia village by the same name, situated
between the rivers Voltoya and Eresma. It is a clear example of
Mudejar military architecture.
The castle is mostly made of brick and surrounded by a deep moat.
It has very powerful walls, more than 2.5 metres thick, and has
turrets in all four angles. It has a square ground plan and two
different enclosures: the main section and the barrier. The former
contains the tower of homage. The main gate has a drawbridge leading
to the courtyard, which has been recently rebuilt, which contains
a bay supported by classical columns that were sold last century.
The barrier had two gates, one of which, the one leading to the
outside of the castle, was left unfinished. The castle has an
impressive, deep moat. The village of Coca was named after the
"cauca" term of Roman times. Teodoro el Grande (the
Great) was born in the village.
Castle of Cuellar
The walled enclosure dates mostly from the 13th century.
Its most interesting feature is the distribution of the church
apses interwoven with the walls.
Don Beltrán de la Cueva was responsible for the palace
section.
It preserves arched doors and upper defensive chambers, one of
which was left inside the castle.
King Enrique IV took it away from his step-sister, Isabel, who
had inherited it from her father Juan II, and gave it to his main
assistant, don Beltrán de la Cueva, who built a new and
sumptuous castle-palace which his successors finished in the 16th
century.
Castle of Pedraza
Double enclosure, with cues and square turrets, plus an artificial
moat excavated in the rock.
The castle uses part of the wall and preserves the remains of
one front, with Romanesque elements.The tower that serves as the
tower of homage uses a different bonding that the rest of the
castle.
Castle of Turégano
Medieval castle erected in the former site of an Arabic fortress
(in its turned, buily on a previous vernacular structure, parts
of whose walls are preserved).
It contains the Romanesque Iglesia de San Miguel Arcángel,
complete in the 15th and 16th centuries with military elements,
becoming a church-castle; Juan Guas and Gil de Hontañón
were responsible for the works.
A belfry was added in the 18th century.
The Alcázar
Thought to have been built on the site of a previous important
fortress, since the aqueduct water pipes end in the Álcazar.
The first Tower of Homage, probably built in the time of Alfonso
X, is rectangular and reminiscent of some French military structures
of the 13th century.
The new Tower, incorrectly attributed to Juan II, was erected
between 1440 and 1465. it is probably one of the earliest examples
of the ornamental use of a different kind of look-out posts.
A new corridor was added in 1412 containing the Galera room (with
an interesting Mudejar coffering) also called Room of the Ambassadors.
In 1452 the Sala de las Piñas, the king's study, was built
and the Crown Room was finished.
As of 1590, in accordance with the projects by Francisco de Mora,
the building was reformed: the towers and rooms were covered with
spires, and the roofs with slate.
The Kings Room was completed in 1596 with statues of all the monarchs.
The first fire of 1681 destroyed the top of the old tower of homage.
The fire of 1862 led to a complete restoration with the aid of
existing drawings.
Restoration works were started in 1882 by Joaquín Odriozola
y Antonio Bermejo.
The Trastámaras built this majestic 15th-century castle-palace,
subsequently reformed with French and Italian influences, on a
fortified location consecutively used by the Romans, the Visigoths,
the Arabs and the Christians.
Isabel left the castle in 1474 to be crowned Queen of Castile.
Felipe II lived in the Alcázar de Segovia, and was responsible
for the last transformation of the building in the late 16th century.
Carlos III established the Royal Academy of Artillery in the premises.
It was destroyed by the fire of 1862.
It was rebuilt in 1882, becoming the General Military Archive
and, later on, an Artillery Academy and a Museum.
Segovia guide