Segovia is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau, near the northern slopes of the Sistema Central range and on a bend of the Eresma river.
Tourism in Spain is a major contributor to national economic life, contributing to about 11.8% of Spain's GDP. Ever since the 1960s and 1970s, the country has been a popular destination for summer holidays, especially with large numbers of tourists from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Turkey, France, Germany, Italy, the Benelux, and the United States, among others. Accordingly, Spain's foreign tourist industry has grown into the second-biggest in the world.
El Escorial, or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, or Monasterio del Escorial, is a historical residence of the King of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 2.06 kilometres (1.28 mi) up the valley from the town of El Escorial and about 45 kilometres (28 mi) northwest of the Spanish capital Madrid. Built between 1563 and 1584 by order of King Philip II, El Escorial is the largest Renaissance building in the world. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, basilica, royal palace, pantheon, library, museum, university, school, and hospital.
The Royal Palace of Madrid is the official residence of the Spanish royal family at the city of Madrid, although now used only for state ceremonies. The palace has 135,000 m2 (1,450,000 sq ft) of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the largest royal palace in Europe.
The Zarzuela Palace is the residence and working offices of the reigning monarch of Spain, although the official residence of the Spanish royal family is the Royal Palace of Madrid. The Zarzuela Palace is on the outskirts of Madrid, near the Royal Palace of El Pardo, which accommodates visiting heads of state. The palace is owned by the Spanish government and administered by a state agency named Patrimonio Nacional.
Gaspar Becerra (1520–1568) was a Spanish painter and sculptor of the School of Valladolid.
Juan de Herrera was a Spanish architect, mathematician and geometrician.
Juan Bautista de Toledo was a Spanish architect. He was educated in Italy, in the Italian High Renaissance. As many Italian renaissance architects, he had experience in both architecture and military and civil public works. Born, either in Toledo or in Madrid around 1515. He died on 19 May 1567 in Madrid, and was buried in Madrid in the choir of the primitive “Convento de Santo Tomás, Iglesia de la Santa Cruz”.
The Royal Palace of El Pardo is one of the official residences of the Spanish royal family and one of the oldest, being used by the Spanish monarchs since Henry III of Castile in the 15th century. It is administered by the Patrimonio Nacional agency and it currently serves as a state guest house.
Luis de Vega was a 16th-century Spanish architect appointed royal architect of Charles I.
Patrimonio Nacional is a Spanish autonomous agency, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Presidency, that administers the sites owned by the Spanish State and used by the Monarch and the Spanish Royal Family as residences and for State Ceremonies. The Patrimonio Nacional includes palaces, gardens, monasteries and convents, called the Royal sites. When not in official use, the Royal sites are open to the public. It also manages the official and holiday residences of the Prime Minister.
The Herrerian style of architecture was developed in Spain during the last third of the 16th century under the reign of Philip II (1556–1598), and continued in force in the 17th century, but transformed by the Baroque style of the time. It corresponds to the third and final stage of Spanish Renaissance architecture, whose dominant trend had been towards austerity and minimal decoration. The ornate Plateresque style had given way to classical Purism in the second third of the 16th century. Purism in turn had given way to the geometric simplicity of the Herrerian style.
The Royal Palace of La Almudaina is one of the official residences of the Spanish royal family. Categorized as an Alcázar, it is located in Palma, the capital city of the Island of Mallorca, Spain.
The Real Monasterio de la Encarnación is a convent of the order of Recollet Augustines located in Madrid, Spain. The institution mainly interned women from noble families, and was founded by the Queen Margaret of Austria, wife of Philip III, and thus was well endowed with wealth. Although it belongs to an enclosed religious order, the building is open to the public under the administration of the Patrimonio Nacional.
The Royal Alcázar of Madrid was a fortress located at the site of today's Royal Palace of Madrid, Madrid, Spain. The structure was originally built in the second half of the ninth century by the Muslims, then extended and enlarged over the centuries, particularly after 1560. It was at this time that the fortress was converted into a royal palace, and Madrid became the capital of the Spanish Empire. Despite being a palace, the great building kept its original Arabic title of Alcázar.
Francisco de Mora (c.1553–1610) was a Spanish Renaissance architect.
The Casita del Príncipe is an eighteenth-century building located in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain. It was designed by the neoclassical architect Juan de Villanueva for the private use of the heir to the Spanish throne Charles, Prince of Asturias, and his wife Maria Luisa. It was constructed in the 1770s and extended in the 1780s.
The Royal Household and Heritage of the Crown of Spain was the institution that governed the organization of the Royal Spanish Court from the time of the Habsburg dynasty, which introduced the so-called Burgundian etiquette, up to the reign of Alfonso XIII, great-grandfather of the current King of Spain, in all that regarded the structure of the Court as well as the ceremonial matters, etiquette and protocol.
Paradores de Turismo de España S.M.E.S.A., branded as Paradores, is a Spanish state-owned chain of luxury hotels that are usually located in historic buildings or in nature areas with a special appeal. Its very first parador was inaugurated on 9 October 1928 in Navarredonda de Gredos (Ávila). As of 2022, it operates 97 paradores in Spain and one in Portugal, with 5,988 rooms in total. Every parador has its own restaurant offering the regional gastronomy of its area.
