Alcázar

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This article is about Spanish Alcazar buildings. See Alcázar de San Juan for the town in La Mancha, Alcazar (band) for the article on the pop group or Alcazar Hotel for the historic hotel in Cleveland Heights.

An alcázar is a Spanish castle, from the Arabic word القصر al qasr meaning palace or fortress. Many cities in Spain have an alcázar.

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[edit] Famous Alcazars

The Alcázar of Segovia
The Alcázar of Segovia
  • The Alcázar of Segovia' Built in the 12th century. During the Middle Ages, the alcázar of Segovia was the favorite residence of kings of Castile, and almost each king added new parts to the building, transforming the original fortress into a courtier residence and prolonging the construction of the castle till 16th century, when king Philip II added the conical spires and the slate roofs. A fire in 1862 destroyed part of the roofs, but they were restored in the very same style they were built 300 years ago. It is known that Walt Disney was inspired by the Alcazar de Segovia to create his famous Cinderella Castle.
  • The Alcázar of Toledo was used as a military academy in modern times. The famous "Siege of the Alcázar" in the Spanish Civil War refers to the Toledo castle, which was held by the Nationalist Colonel José Moscardó Ituarte against overwhelming Republican forces. Republican forces captured Moscardó's 24-year-old son Luis. On 23 July 1936, they telephoned Moscardó and informed him that either turn over the Alcázar within ten minutes or his son would die. Moscardó did not surrender. Luis was indeed executed, but contrary to widespread belief, not immediately: he was killed exactly one month later, on 23 August. [1]

Outside Spain, in modern Palermo, Sicily, the district still called the Cassaro corresponds to the area of ancient Punic settlement of Zis, on high ground that was refortified by the Arabs and called القصر al qasr, and further expanded as the site of the later Norman palace.

During the Spanish transition to democracy, the newspaper El Alcázar expressed the views of the búnker, the extreme right that opposed any democratization.

[edit] Cognate names

[edit] Other meanings


[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War, revised and enlarged edition (1977), New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-014278-2. p. 324

[edit] External links

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