Segovia is a Spanish city, in Castille-and-León, capital of the Province of Segovia. It is at one hour of road of Madrid, with the junction of the rivers Eresma and Clamores, with the foot of the Sierra of Guadarrama.

Demography

History

The settlement of Segovia is extremely old. At the place which the occupies today Alcazar was a fortified town Celte. During the Roman epoch Segovia belonged to the legal convent of Clunia (in the current province of Burgos). It is thought that the city was abandoned following the Islamic invasion. After the conquest of Tolède by Alphonse VI of Castille, the son-in-law of this last, the count Raymond of Burgundy starts with the first bishop of the diocese reconstituted the repopulation of Segovia with Christians originating in north of the peninsula and in beyond the Pyrenees, and equips it with a considerable territory whose grounds cross the Sierra of Guadarrama and the Tage.

During the 12th century, Segovia undergoes important disorders directed against its governor, Álbar Yáñez, and later related to the fights of the reign of Doña Urraca. In spite of these disorders, its geographical location on the ways of Transhumance made of them an important center commercial of wool and textile manufactures (whose existence is attested as of the 13th century). The end of the Middle Ages is one period of splendor, during which it shelters an important Jewish synagog; an important industry clothier is set up; it develops a splendid Gothic architecture and shelters to it court of the kings of the House of the Trastamare (Alphonse X Wise the had already established Alcazar like royal residence). It is finally in Segovia that Isabelle the Catholic is proclaimed queen of Castille the December 13rd 1474.

Like all the Castilian textile centers, Segovia is linked with the rising of the Communautés of Castille; she will play there a considerable part under the command of Juan Bravo. In spite of the defeat of the Communities, the economic advancement of the city continued during the 16th century, to arrive in 1594 at: 27000 inhabitants.

It entered then in decline like practically all the Castilians cities, so that hardly a century later, in 1694 it sheltered nothing any more but 8  000 inhabitants. At the beginning of the 18th century the attempts for revitiliser its textile industry were not very effective. In 1764 is inaugurated the Royal Collège of Artillerie , the first military academy of Spain, which is still in the city.

In 1808 it was put at bag by the French troops during the Guerre of Spanish independence. During the First War Carliste the troops of the applicant Don Carlos attack the city without success. During the 19th century and first half of 20th, benefitting from a relative economic advancement, Segovia knew a demographic renewal

Art

The old city of Segovia constitutes one of the artistic and architectural whole richest of Spain, whose beauty is underlined by the majestuosity of the site on which the city is established: a rock headland facing the Sierra of Guadarrama. The city is on the Liste of the world heritage of UNESCO since 1985.

Roman time remains a aqueduct whose state of conservation is remarkable. It is about the construction of this type best preserved of Spain, and one of the more good examples of the everyone Roman one.

The Moyen-âge very strongly marked the town of its print. The vestiges of this time are legion. The walls of the city and Alcázar testify to its role of fortified town, while the innumerable Romance churches ( San Esteban , San Millán , San Martín , the Santísima Trinidad , San Andrés , San Clemente , Santos Justo there Pastor and San Salvador ) reveal an intense spiritual life in the city, dominated by the very elegant silhouette of the Cathédrale Santa María. The old city is in addition surrounded by a number imposing of Monastère S located out-the-walls. Lastly, much of palate and houses seigneuriales of a great architectural value were built at the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the 16th century, time at the time which Segovia was one of the high places of the wool industry of the Royaume of Castille. Its productions were exported towards the England and the Flanders, grace in particular to the bonds which linked the north of Europe and Spain since the catholic Kings and Charles Quint.