The Alcázar of Toledo is a stone fortification located in the highest part of Toledo, Spain. It is a large quadrangular building measuring 60 meters on a side, framed by four large towers 60 meters high, each crowned by the typical Madrid spire. Most of the city was rebuilt between 1939 and 1957 after the siege of the Alcázar during the Spanish Civil War.

Once used as a Roman palace in the 3rd century, it was restored under Charles I (Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor) and his son Philip II of Spain in the 1540s. In 1521, Hernán Cortés was received by Charles I at the Alcázar, following Cortes’ conquest of the Aztecs. The name is from Arabic al-qaṣr ‘the castle’ (ultimately, from Latin ‘castrum’).

The El Alcazar appears in our Complete Guide to Visiting Toledo!

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