alcazar

Alcazar (Sp.: alcázar, from Arabic: al-Qaflr, a palace or fortress). From the Umayyad period (661-750) there was a tradition of building fortified palaces in the Middle East, in both town and country. After the establishment of Umayyad family rule in Spain in 756, they began to develop the alcazar of Cordoba, immediately to the west of the great mosque, which served as the centre of administration until the 10th century when it was replaced by the palace-city of Madinat al-Zahra, some 9.3 miles (15 km) to the west of the old city. With the fall of the caliphate in the early 11th century, power shifted to provincial centres and alcazars were built for local rulers, notably the Aljafería of Saragossa which dates from the 11th century. Alcazars were also built in towns along the northern frontiers of Muslim Spain, notably at Mérida, where the 9th-century structure still survives, and at Toledo.

The alcazar at Toledo was founded in the 9th century by the Umayyads and became the palace of the Taifa kings of Toledo in the 11th century. After the Christian conquest of 1085, it became one of the main residences of the kings of Castile. Nothing remains of these early structures and the present massive, four-square castle-palace dates back to the reign of Charles V. In 1936 the alcazar was held by nationalist rebels including military cadets under Col José Moscardó against government forces and, during an epic siege, most of the old structure was reduced to rubble. The massive replica of the 16th-century alcazar which now dominates the Toledo skyline has been reconstructed since the Spanish civil war.

— Hugh Kennedy