ROUTE 1: Heritage

Perhaps the most representative city route ; runs along the main axis of the old town. The route begins at the foot of the Aqueduct to take the main street of the city, Calle Real. The first stop is the Mirador de la Canaleja few meters the Casa de los Picos. Leaving the Plaza de Medina del Campo and the Romanesque church of San Martín , reach the Corpus Square dominated by the ancient Synagogue , Church of Corpus Christi today . Then the Plaza Mayor and the Cathedral (entrance) . After touring the neighborhood of Canonjías finalize in the Palace (entrance) .

ROUTE 2: For the Jewish Quarter of Segovia

It is a journey through the narrow winding streets of the Jewish Quarter, evoking the Jewish cultural heritage of the city by visiting the Old Synagogue, the Educational Centre of the Jewish Quarter and finally the Museum of Segovia, former butcher or house Sol.

ROUTE 3: In the Shadow of the Arches

We rediscovers the Aqueduct and provides the opportunity to access their sand trap, to finish at one of our most unique monasteries, San Antonio el Real, former hunting palace of Henry IV. The tour also includes the church of San Justo, famous for its Romanesque frescoes and the image of Christ of the Gascons.

This architectural masterpiece built by the Romans in the second half of the first century AD or early second century, possibly during the reign of Emperor Claudius in Secovi today Segovia, to supply drinking water to this city of the VACE from the bed of the Frio River, located about 18 km, is the Roman aqueduct best preserved of the Empire.

Regarding the chronology of its construction there is no unified criteria, because for some historians, including Menendez Pidal, believe that his execution took place under Augustus, while others associated with the reign of Claudius, the second half of the century, and still others suggest the idea to include it in the works in Hispania by order of Emperor Trajan. It has a length of about 728 m. and a maximum height of 28.50 m., which must be added about 6 m. foundation in the main section. It consists of a double arches, formed by 119 the lower arches of a different light, depending on the stage and adaptations to the terrain profile, and the top of 44 arches, which form the core of the aqueduct.

From the aesthetic point of view the Romans created a particular aesthetic from the combination of the hollow wall. This partners hip creates an image, the foundation of aesthetics used in bridges and other structures of the empire, in which balance the arch and the lintel, the dynamic to static, the idea of massive, vain, light and dark as fruitful will be for the future.

The first great work of reconstruction must be done in times of Ferdinand and Isabella: the prior of the monastery of the Jeronimos del Parral, Don Pedro de Mesa, was in charge of managing the reconstruction between the years 1484 to 1489, when 36 rebuilt arcs with maximum respect for original work, although some bows have a slight tendency to form a pointed and less blunt styling that of Roman stones. In the sixteenth century are replaced in the niches of the central pillar statues of the patron saint of Segovia, the Virgin of Fuencisla, and San Sebastian. Currently, the state of deterioration of the stone by air pollution has been so alarming that the state, with the help of other national and international, had to protect it with a meticulous restoration process.

The oldest evidence of the existence of the Alcazar of Segovia is a document of the early twelfth century, dated 1122, shortly after the reconquest of the city by Alfonso VI, which mentions the fortress as afort on the Eresma. In a letter somewhat later (1155) and is given the name Alcazar. However, it is likely that the fortification existed in ancient times, perhaps since Roman times, as in recent excavations found granite blocks similar to those of the aqueduct. In the Middle Ages, the Alcazar, both for the beauty of its situation and its undisputed military security became one of the favorite residences of the kings of Castile.

The Alcazar of Segovia is divided into two nuclei. The first is to form a courtyard Herrera moat, the drawbridge, the main tower and spire two circular bins. The second is inside and has a chapel and rooms great nobles de la Galera, pineapples and the Queen’s dresser. It also has four floors with spacious lofts and basements.

Highlights the Kings room which is decorated with handcrafted gold and diamonds and hexagons with a curious frieze of polychrome seated 52 images. In the throne room, features a beautiful domed Moorish and Gothic-Mudejar plasterwork. Its wallsare lined with velvet and portraits of various kings.

The keep was built by John II in a transition from Romanesque to Gothic. Reaches 80 feet tall and is decorated with beautiful graffiti and twelve magnificent turrets. It is accessed through a passage way. During the reign of Philip II, the roofs were covered with original spire of the tower pizarra. Stands out Alfonso X the Wise, from which the monarch was studying the sky, and the great interior rooms decorated with Mudejar coffered ceilings and rich plaster work.

Called the “Queen of Cathedrals” Segovia Cathedral was built between 1525 and 1577, to replace the Romanesque church almost destroyed in the wars of comunities. Together with the new cathedral of Salamanca it is the sample of late gothic Spanish architecture.

It was designed by Juan Gil de Hontañón as the temple of three naves with side chapels, a transept and semicircular with ambulatory, chapels surrounded by Gothic cloister is radiales.El1470 and is the one that was attached to the old Romanesque cathedral. It was moved stone by stone to its new location. They are beautiful openwork tracery arches.

Inside saved countless riches masterpieces of painting and sculpture, stained glass windows of the sixteenth century, up to 23chapels with interesting artwork, the impressive altar and exceptional organ still in use, between otes things. In the old cathedral of Santa Maria, who stood in the gardens of the Alcazar, was reused for the new the beautiful cloister of Juan Guas and choir stalls, both of the fifteenth century, the construction of the cathedral of Segovia not completed until the thirteenth century.

In the construction of the cathedral are three different stages:

• First stage: The first stone (08/06/1525) and Juan Gil de Hontañón trace levels: three ships (central and lateral) and chapels.

• Second stage: the death of Juan Gil de Hontañón (15-9-1526), his son, Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón, he relieved in the works. In 1567 laid the first stone of the transept and nave is completed, opening worship.

• Third stage: the death of Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón (1577), takes over Juan de Mugaguren, who closes the Escorial Dome cruise ends the arms and makes the gate of San Frutos (North) Herrera style. In the minor details, work continued during the seventeenth century.

That’s why in the Cathedral of Segovia is mixed Gothic and Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical.
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