Toledo

Toledo has long been famed for its sword blades and its gold and silver inlay work, a craft tradition brought in by the Moors.

History

Toledo is one of the oldest towns in Spain. The capital of an Iberian tribe, the Carpetani, it was captured by the Romans in 192 B.C. and given the name of Toletum. Under the Visigoths, between 534 and 712, it again enjoyed the status of a capital and was the meeting-place of many church councils. At the Council of Toledo in 589 the Visigothic king Recarred, an Arian, was converted to the Catholic faith. During the Moorish period (712-1085) the town was known as Tolaitola, and until 1035 was the seat of an emir subject to the Caliph of Córdoba. Thereafter it became an independent kingdom and rose to prosperity through the manufacture of weapons and its silk and woolen industries. Science and learning were also eagerly cultivated in the town. The Christian inhabitants, known as Mozarabs ("servants of the Arabs" or "pseudo-Arabs"), adopted the Arabic language, which remained in use alongside Spanish for centuries and was not finally prohibited until 1580. In 1087 Toledo became the residence of the kings of Castile and the ecclesiastical center of the whole of Spain, and the Cardinal Archbishops of Toledo - Mendoza, Jiménez, Albornoz and others - were involved in all the great events of their period. In the reigns of Ferdinand III and Alfonso X, the Wise, Toledo became a center of learning, notable for the mutual tolerance of the three great religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The Jewish community of Toledo was the largest in the Iberian peninsula. The mid-14th century saw the first pogroms, followed in subsequent decades by others; and with the establishment of the Inquisition in Spain in 1485 and the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 the heyday of Jewry in Spain came to an end. The revolt of the Comuneros in the 16th Century began in Toledo. With the transfer of the capital to Madrid by Philip II (who resided in Toledo between 1559 and 1561) the town lost all political importance. During the Civil War Republic forces laid siege to the Alcázar, which was totally destroyed.

The Town

Toledo lies on a granite hill surrounded on three sides by the deep gorge of the river Tagus (Tajo). With its ring of Gothic and Moorish walls, its towering Alcázar and its Cathedral it presents a picture of incomparable effect. The layout of the town, with its irregular pattern of narrow streets and numerous blind alleys, reflects its Moorish past. The blank walls, the windows with their iron gratings and the open courtyards of the houses also betray Oriental influence. The architecture of the Christian period is represented by numerous churches, convents and hospices. Thus the city as a whole is a kind of open-air museum illustrating the history of Spain, which has been listed by UNESCO as part of mankind's cultural heritage.