World Heritage Sites : Toledo

Overview

Toledo, capital of Castilla la Mancha, has more that 2,000 years of history. Its masterpieces are the product of heterogeneous civilizations in an environment where the existence of three major religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – was a major factor.

Toledo is surrounded by the River Tagus (Tajo) on three sides, its history dates to 190 B.C. The name has its origin when the Romans conquered the Peninsula, “Toletum”. The Visigoth made it the capital of their kingdom in the middle of the 6th Century. After the Romans and the Visigoths have vanished, Christianity became the state religion (589). For many years the three main religions coexisted in Toledo. King Alfonso VI allowed the Jewish and the Islamises to live in Toledo under the Christians’ power. In the 16th C it became the capital of the Spanish Empire, until Felipe II succeeded to the throne in 1561 and moved to Madrid. Toledo lost the economic and the political power but is still the centre of the Christianity in Spain.

Toledo constitutes a tourist attraction point due to its privilege location and to its beautiful and harmonious buildings. Such a wonderful variety of architectonic monuments of every period is what makes it a city, declared by the UNESCO, a World Heritage City.

Toledo must be visited on foot, crossing Zocover Square and walking through the numerous medieval narrow streets, where you will find in every turning something interesting to see, like for example about 15 different museums (Contemporary Art museum, Concilius and Visigothic Culture museum, Sefadí Museum, etc), or many Mosques, Synagogues, churches and convents (Church of Saint Lucas, Mosque of the Christ of the Light, Synagogues of the Transit and of Saint Mary the White, etc.)

In this beautiful city, there are lots of pretty things to visit, but it takes time. You’d better wear comfortable shoes because the city is very hilly and most of the pavements of the historic centre are roman roads, which makes it difficult to walk. So it would be inappropriate to wear high heeled shoes.
If you visit it in summer be aware that temperatures can rise up to 30 or 35ºC, so to cool down it would be a good idea to enter in the Cathedral, but also normally every café, restaurant or bar have air-conditioners. In cold winters, it’s advisable to wear thick coats and gloves, or else you will not be able to walk comfortably around its labyrinthic streets.

If you are travelling by car, you should leave it outside the walls of the city as the roads are extremely narrow and there is little space to park. But, of course, it you are travelling with elderly people or you are not very keen on walking you’d better try to park inside the walls so to walk as little as possible, or try to leave your car in a huge car-park outside the walls, from which a escalator leads you to the centre of the old town.

If you are planning a one-day-trip, you cannot miss the Cathedral, Zocover Square, the Alcazar or the famous gates. It would be good to stay over night in Toledo to visit it properly and to have dinner in any of the places around Zocover. You may find exciting to have a dink or refreshment in any of night clubs or pubs surrounding it, where you would be able to see, normally Friday and Saturday, the proper Toledo’s night.

Toledo is famous for its handicrafts tradition in swords, ceramic-ware (Mudejar origin), pottery, embroidery, and its “damasquinado” (Demascene, metal inlaid with gold thread); and also for its gastronomy, basically consisting of: fresh products from the area and the abundant supply of game, large and small (like deer, wild boar or partridge), roast lamb and piglet, Manchegan cheese, the home-grown wines, and for desert the marzipan form Arabic origin.

DISTANCES:
Madrid: 71km
Ciudad Real: 115km
Guadalajara: 129km
Ávila: 137km
Cuenca: 187km
Salamanca: 234km

What to see in the city

The majestic Gothic Cathedral (1227-1493). It is important to mention the beauty of its main entrance (the Lions’ Gate) that is worth stopping before entering. The Catherdral consists of a nave and fours aisles, a triforium with round trefoil arches and an ambulatory with many chapels. Beautiful stained-glass windows filter the light entering the church. There are many works of art inside (paints of Goya, Rafael, Tiziano, Rubens, Van Dyck, Zurbarán and, of course, of El Greco) and special attention is drawn to the double tier of choir stalls, the 12th Century Gothic image of “La Virgen Blanca” and above all “El Transparente” behind the main altar, a work of craft carried out by Narciso Tome in 1732 and considered on of the masterpieces of Spanish Baroque.

Zocover Square, the heart of the city, is a must in your visit. In summer there are terrace bars to have a drink together with typical snack of the city, or even dinner. It is the most crowded place in Toledo at night due to the concentration of pubs surrounding the square.

Form the Parador “Conde de Orgaz” there is a wonderful view of the city of Toledo which is over eighteen centuries old and stands on top of a granite hill surrounded on three sides by the River Tagus. It is outside of the walls of the city at the other side of the river, and it is worth visiting.

The rebuilt Alcazar, made by Alfonso VI, where you can find the Army Museum and the Castilla La Mancha’s Library. It has a very heroic story about the General Moscardó who was in charge of the Alcazar during the Spanish Civil War. During that time, The Alcazar was bombed until it was nearly ruined but Moscardó didn’t surrendered not even when the opposition threaten him with killing his own son, who had been captured.

Saint Tome Church with its Mudejar tower is famous, especially because it houses El Greco’s most famous painting: “The burial of Count Orgaz”, who was Don Gonzalo Ruiz the Toledo. El Greco painted the miracle of the saintly count’s funeral, where St. Augustine and St. Stephen personally descend form heaven to bury the Count. The paint is divided into two main parts, the celestial (where we can see in the middle of the picture an angel ascending the soul of the Count represented by a baby), and earthly (with many known nobles of the époque of that time in Toledo.).

Toledo’s City Walls Existing since the Roman times, in the year AD 674, they were reconstructed by the Visigoth King Wamba.

Toledo’s famous Gates: Sun’s Gate, Gate of the Hinge, Gate of Cambrón.

Church of San Juan de los Reyes (Saint John of the Kings) (1490-1495), which is typically Isabelline.

Alcántara’s Bridge and Saint Martin’s Bridge

OTHER INTERESTING PLACES IN THE CITY:
- House-museum of El Greco. Rebuild and redecorated mansion.
- La Santa Cruz Hospital (1504-1514): early Spanish Renaissance.
- Roman Circus, that could house 13,000 spectators
- The city Hall, built by Jorge Manuel Theotocopulus, El Greco’s son.
- Santiago’s Church of the Arrabal. (1179) Mudejar.
- Transito and St. Mary the White are the only two preserved synagogues of eight that Toledo once had.
- Tavera’s Hospital. Renaissance.
- Christ of the Light’s Mosque.
- Saint Cross’ museum.
- Palace of Fuensalida.

Museums and monuments open to the public

El Alcázar:
General Moscardó St.
Open 9:30am-1:30pm and 4-5:30pm; Sundays 10am-1:30pm and 4-5:30pm. In summer, open daily until 6:30pm. Closed Mondays. Tel. 925/22 30 38.

El Ayuntamiento- City Hall:
visits by previous appointment. Tel.925/22 28 00

El Greco House/Museum:
Samuel Leví St. 3. Open 10am-2pm and 4-6pm; closed Sunday afternoons and Mondays. Tel.925/22 40 46

Toledo Cathedral: open 10:30am- 2 pm and 4-6:30pm, and the Cathedral Museum:
open 10:30am- 1pm and 3:30-6pm; closed Sunday afternoons and Mondays. Tel. 925/22 22 41

Church of Santo Tomé:
Conde Square.
Open 10am-1:45pm and 3:30-5:45pm; in summer open until 6:45pm.

Tornerías Mosque:
Solarejo Square, 4.
Open on exhibition days. Tel. 925/ 25 32 54

Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes:
San Juan de los Reyes Square.
Open 10am- 1:45pm and 3:30-6pm; in summer open until 7pm. Tel.925/ 22 38 02

Sephardic Museum:
Tránsito Synagogue, Reyes Católicos St.
Open 10am-1:45pm and 4-5:45pm. Closed Sunday afternoons and Mondays. Tel.925/ 22 36 65

Taller del Moro Museum:
Taller del Moro St.
Open 10am-2pm and 4-6:30pm. Closed Sunday afternoons and Mondays. Tel.925/22 45 00.

Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca:
open 10am-2pm and 3:30-6pm; in summer open until 7pm. Tel. 925/22 72 57

Tránsito Synagogue:
Reyes Católicos Street.
Open 10am-1:45pm and 4-5:45pm. Closed Sunday afternoons and Mondays. Tel. 925/ 22 36 65.

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo - Gallery of Contemporary Art
Bulas Viejas St., 13.
Open 10am-2pm and 4-6:30pm. Closed Sunday afternoons and Mondays. Tel. 925/22 78 71.

Museo de los Concilios y de la Cultura Visigótica - Visigothic Museum:
San Clemente St.
Open 10am-2pm and 4-6:30pm. Closed Sunday afternoons and Mondays. Tel. 925/ 22 78 72.

Museum of the Convent of Santo Domingo el Antíguo:
Santo Domingo el Antíguo Square.
Open 11am-1pm and 4-7pm: in winter, afternoons only. Closed Sunday mornings. Tel.925/22 29 30.

Museo Hospital de Tavera - Tavera Hospital/Museum
Avenida de los Duques de Lerma.
Open 10:30am-1:30pm and 3:30-6pm. Tel. 925/22 04 51.

Museo de Santa Cruz - Holy Cross Museum:
Cervantes St. 3.
Open 10am-6:30pm. Closed Sunday afternoons. Tel. 925/22 10 36.