Toledo Morning

Day 8 was a very big day. It was the day I went to the most popular spot to visit from Madrid: Toledo. Although it has a relatively small population today, Toledo was once (or more than once, actually) a very important city. That helps explain why it is such a draw for tourists. The historic hilltop center of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For most of the existence of the Visigoth Kingdom, Toledo was its capital. Toledo remained an important cultural center after Iberia was conquered by the Moors. After the Reconquista, with Iberia being once again Christian, Toledo was once again a capital city. This time is was the capital of a unified Spain. Toledo remained the capital for 70 years until King Philip moved the capital to Madrid. This resulted in Toledo losing much of its prestige. Toledo does have the present-day distinction of being the capital of Castilla–La Mancha.

Today, Toledo is known as The City of Three Cultures because of its history of significant Christian, Jewish, and Islamic culture. Of course, the Jews and the Muslims didn’t always have it so good when the Christians were in charge, especially during the Spanish Inquisition.

Toledo Railway Station

The pretty interior of Toledo’s railway station.

The current railway station in Toledo opened in 1919. It was designed in the Neo-Mudéjar style–similar to Las Ventas, the bullring in Madrid.

Puente de Alcántara

The railway station sits on a plain that the Tagus, the longest river in Iberia, flows through. A pre-Roman Celtic tribe strategically built Toledo on a hilltop at a bend in the Tagus. In a sign of things to come, the tribe made the city, known in ancient times as Toletum, its capital. The walk from the station to the bridge was uphill, as the Romans built the bridge high over the Tagus. As you can see, the walk from the bridge to central Toledo gets pretty steep.

Fascinating engravings on the end of the bridge below central Toledo.

Museum of Santa Cruz

Colorful 19th-century women’s shoes for a wedding.

I loved my first stop in Toledo–the Museum of Santa Cruz (Museo de Santa Cruz). It’s an art museum in a 16th-century Renaissance building, Hospital de Santa Cruz. The building has a cross- (cruz-) shaped floorplan.

15th-century alabaster sculpture, *Our Lady of Piety*. (Anonymous sculptor.) It was here that I realized that *Pietà* means “pity” or “piety”.

Here you can get a sense of the cross-shaped floorplan of the Museum of Santa Cruz.

This is interesting. A late 19th-/early 20th-century silver bust of Emperor Charles V. It’s based on a 1575 bronze bust of the emperor made in Milan.

Not quite a silver bust of an emperor, this is a 16th-century gilded wooden carving of a gentleman. Around his neck he wears a medallion featuring the Cross of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, also known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta.

*Portrait of Conquistador, Hernán Cortés*, 17th or 18th century, by an anonymous artist. Cortés was a key figure in the defeat of the Aztecs in Mexico. He was named the 1st Governor of New Spain.

*Portrait of Magdalena Ruiz “The Mad”, Jester to the Court of Philip II*, 16th century, by an anonymous artist. Well, if that isn’t a title that makes you want to know more!

Magdalena was a woman with dwarfism who served (not necessarily voluntarily) in the royal court for about 40 years for the amusement of the royals.

*Crown of the Lady of the Forsaken*, 1641. This beautiful gold crown was created by Colombian goldsmith Andrés Martínez. It’s adorned with gemstones, pearls, quartz, enamel, and diamonds.

*Saint Dominic of Guzmán*, El Greco Workshop, 17th century. Saint Dominic was a Spanish priest who founded the Dominican Order in France.

El Greco is most associated with Toledo, and the El Greco Museum is located there. I went to Toledo on a Monday, when the museum is closed. I didn’t worry about it because I’ve seen so many El Greco paintings elsewhere, and I knew there would be more than enough to fill up my day in Toledo.

*The Veronica with the Holy Face*, El Greco, c. 1580. It’s funny, I wouldn’t have guessed this was an El Greco because it doesn’t seem to be in his typical style. Veronica looks naturalistic, not elongated. The previous painting, from the El Greco Workshop, has El Greco written–or painted–all over it.

You must know by now that I can never get enough of Roman mosaics. (Just will till Day 9!) The central section of this 3rd-century mosaic contains lots of symbolism relating to the 4 seasons and more.

Closeup on the detail of the central section of the mosaic.

A courtyard outside the hospital building.

If I remember correctly, the museum has having an exhibition on Picasso’s work with minotaurs. This one is *Bacchic Scene with Minotaur*, 1933. Let’s party with Bacchus!

Plaza de Zocodover

Plaza de Zocodover is the main square of Toledo’s historic center. It dates back to Muslim times.

Tourists fill Plaza de Zocodover, which has transformed many times over the years. Its current appearance dates from the late 19th century.

Okay, let’s get started with the whole “Three Cultures” thing…

Cristo de la Luz

Cristo de la Luz was originally built as a mosque in 999, making it the oldest building in Toledo. It was built in the traditional Moorish style. In 1186, during the Reconquista, Catholics seized the mosque from the Moors and made it a chapel. The only major structural change to the building to effect the conversion was to remove the mosque’s mihrab–the notch indicating the direction of Mecca–in the east wall and replace it with an apse–the semicircular recess, usually on the eastern side of a church, behind the altar. The Catholics preserved the overall style of architecture of the building, if not its use.

Centuries-old Catholic imagery amidst even older Islamic architecture.

The chapel’s apse–the Catholic feature added while maintaining the original Moorish design.

Medieval Gates

View over part of historic Toledo from near the Puerta del Sol. The towers of the Puerta de Bisagra Nueva feature prominently.

Puerta del Sol was built in the late 14th century. It is so named because it faces the east.

The medallion above the arch of Puerta del Sol depicts a scene from the life of San Ildefonso, patron saint of Toledo. He was Bishop of Toledo during Visigoth times.

Seen from a higher elevation a few pictures back, the Puerta de Bisagra Nueva was the main entrance into Toledo. Although it was partly built by the Moors, the main part of the gate was built in 1559, as the Renaissance was establishing itself in Spain.

Iglesia de Santo Tomé

Iglesia de Santo Tomé is a 14th-century Catholic church built from the ruins of an 11th-century mosque that had been confiscated by the Catholics. (The mosque’s minaret was converted to the church’s bell tower.) When Gonzalo Ruiz de Toledo, mayor of nearby Orgaz, died in 1323, he left a sum of money for improvements to the church, including final works to convert the structure from a mosque to a church. At his request, he was buried in the church. The painting by El Greco was commissioned by the parish priest in 1586. Upon completion, the painting immediately became a tourist attraction. Of course these days, you have to wait for the hordes to get out of the way so you can get a good picture of it yourself.

A figure of the Virgin Mary in the church.

Santa María la Blanca

Santa María la Blanca was built sometime around 1180 or 1205 as a synagogue. It’s the oldest synagogue building still standing in Europe. It was built in the prevailing Moorish style. As part of anti-Jewish pogroms across Spain in 1391, the synagogue was sacked and appropriated by the Church. In the 16th century, Renaissance-style apses were added to the rear of the building.

The beautiful Moorish design of the building.

You could say that Santa María la Blanca epitomizes Toledo’s “Three Cultures”–a Jewish synagogue, built with an Islamic design, taken over and converted into a Catholic church. In all of the above cases–Cristo de la Luz, Iglesia de Santo Tomé, andSanta María la Blanca–it’s no secret which of the 3 cultures won out.

A scallop design on 1 of the Renaissance apses.

Intricately carved capitals on the columns supporting the building’s arches.

In the afternoon, we’ll pick up with a major monument that the Catholics built themselves. That’s not to say the holy site didn’t change hands once or twice.

[Factual information is primarily gathered from Wikipedia, so you know it must be true.]