The New Castle of Manzanares el Real, also known as Castle of los Mendoza, is a palace-fortress erected in the 15th century in the town of

Manzanares el Real Manzanares el Real is a town in the north of the autonomous Community of Madrid. It is located at the foot of La Pedriza, a part of the Sierra de Guadarrama, and next to the ''embalse de Santillana'' (the Santillana reservoir). In 2020, the town h ...

(

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities and 50 provinces of Spain, provinces of Spain. It is located at the heart of the Iberian Peninsula and Meseta Central, Central Plateau (); its capital and largest munici ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

), next to the Santillana reservoir at the foot of

Sierra de Guadarrama The Sierra de Guadarrama (Guadarrama Mountains) is a mountain range forming the main eastern section of the Sistema Central, the system of mountain ranges along the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It is in Spain, between the systems Sierra de ...

mountain range. Its construction began in 1475 on a Romanesque-Mudéjar hermitage. It was raised on the

river Manzanares The Manzanares () is a river in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, which flows from the Sierra de Guadarrama, passes through Madrid, and eventually empties into the Jarama river, which in turn is a right-bank tributary to the Tagus. In its ...

, as a residential palace of the

House of Mendoza The Mendoza family was a powerful line of Spanish nobles. Members of the family wielded considerable power, especially from the 14th to the 17th centuries in Castile. The family originated from the village of Mendoza (Basque ''mendi+oza'', 'c ...

, in the vicinity of an ancient fortress that was abandoned once the new castle was built. The castle now houses a museum of Spanish castles and hosts a collection of tapestries.

Conservation

It was declared a Monumento Histórico-Artístico in 1931 and today is one of the best preserved castles of the Community of Madrid.

History

The lands bordering the upper reaches of the

River Manzanares The Manzanares () is a river in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, which flows from the Sierra de Guadarrama, passes through Madrid, and eventually empties into the Jarama river, which in turn is a right-bank tributary to the Tagus. In its ...

, rich in pastures and forests, were the subject of frequent disputes between different powers that emerged after the

Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...

. The communities of Villa y Tierra de Segovia and Madrid had several disputes over the 13th century, which were resolved in the 14th century by King

John I of Castile John I (; 24 August 1358 – 9 October 1390) was King of Castile and List of Leonese monarchs, León from 1379 until 1390. He was the son of Henry II of Castile, Henry II and of his wife Juana Manuel of Castile. John ascended to the throne in 137 ...

with the donation of the comarca to his steward, Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza. The eldest Mendoza son, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Admiral of Castile, is credited with building the first fortress, now known as the Old Castle of Manzanares el Real, although it is likely that this building had an earlier origin. In the last third of the 15th century, the

decided to build a new castle-palace, larger and more luxurious, in accordance with the remarkable economic and political influence achieved by this family. Work began in 1475.

Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, 1st Duke of the Infantado Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza y Figueroa, 1st Duke of the Infantado, or Diego Hurtado de Mendoza y Suarez de Figueroa (Guadalajara, Castile, 25 September 1417 – Manzanares el Real, Spain, 25 January 1479) was a Spanish noble. Biograph ...

, did not live long enough to see the castle completed. It was his eldest son,

Íñigo López de Mendoza Inigo is a masculine given name deriving from the Castilian rendering (Íñigo) of the medieval Basque name Eneko. Ultimately, the name means "my little (man)". While mostly seen among the Iberian diaspora, it also gained a limited popularity ...

, who finished construction under the direction of the architect

Juan Guas Juan Guas (c. 1430-33 – c. 1496) was a Spanish artist and architect of Breton origin. He worked in a group of architects to create the Isabelline style. Born in Saint-Pol-de-Léon, he moved to Spain when he was young, and is often thought t ...

, author of Palace of the Infantado, of

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

. The role of the castle as a palatial residence lasted only a century. With the death in 1566 of Íñigo López de Mendoza y Pimentel, 4th

Duke of the Infantado Duke of the Infantado () is a Spanish peerage title that was granted to Diego Hurtado de Mendoza y Figueroa, son of Íñigo López de Mendoza, 1st Marquis of Santillana, by the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile ...

, the castle ceased to be inhabited, as economic problems and disputes arose between the heirs of the

. The castle was one of the locations used in the movie

El Cid Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar ( – 10 July 1099) was a Castilian knight and ruler in medieval Spain. Fighting both with Christian and Muslim armies during his lifetime, he earned the Arabic honorific ("the Lord" or "the Master"), which would evolve i ...

(1961). In 1982, the castle hosted the act of establishment of the Parliamentary Assembly of Madrid, during which the region's Statute of Autonomy was also presented.

Features

Manzanares el Real-Claustro del Castillo

The castle, quadrangular, is constructed entirely of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

stone. It has four circular towers. Its vertices are decorated with balls in the

Isabelline Gothic The Isabelline style, also called the Isabelline Gothic (), or Castilian late Gothic, was the dominant architectural style of the Crown of Castile during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of A ...

style. The main hexagonal tower is one of the highlights. The building is topped by a terrace with

machicolation In architecture, a machicolation () is an opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement through which defenders could target attackers who had reached the base of the defensive wall. A smaller related structure that only protects key ...

and turrets. It includes a rectangular courtyard with porticos and two galleries supported by octagonal columns. The

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

gallery on the first floor is considered the most beautiful in Spanish military architecture. On the southern

chemin de ronde A ''chemin de ronde'' ( French, "round path"' or "patrol path"; ), also called an allure, alure or, more prosaically, a wall-walk, is a raised protected walkway behind a castle battlement. In early fortifications, high castle walls were difficu ...

the gallery is flaming trace on parapets decorated with diamond shapes. The whole castle is surrounded by a

barbican A barbican (from ) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe Medieval Europeans typically b ...

, which includes loopholes and, carved in low relief, the cross of the Holy Sepulchre of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, a title held by Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza. Other defensive elements of the building includes its pockets. The castle has six floors, plus a basement: ground floor, mezzanine first, main floor, mezzanine second, upper gallery and gallery of covers. The main gate is flanked by two towers with an arch between them.

Access

It is owned by the Duchy of the Infantado, but it has been rented to the Community of Madrid, which has managed the site as a tourist attraction.

References

External links

Information and photo gallery of New Castle of Manzanares el Real in www.castillosnet.org
{{coord, 40, 43, 38, N, 3, 51, 44, W, region:ES-M_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Castles in the Community of Madrid Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Community of Madrid Buildings and structures completed in 1475