Only a short train journey to the
northwest of Spain’s capital city, Madrid, is the ancient town of Segovia. Perfectly
situated for a day’s outing from the capital, or an overnight trip if you have
the time, Segovia is well worth a visit. The town is relatively small and very
picturesque, boasting some wonderful architecture and is set in the beautiful
surroundings of the plains of old Castille. Segovia was first settled at least
as far back as the Iberian Celtic Iron Age, but it is perhaps best known
nowadays for its Roman aqueduct. One of the most remarkable pieces of Roman
architecture still extant – and, perhaps more amazingly, still in use – today.
I visited Segovia back in May 2010, when I was in staying in Madrid, working on
an exhibition at the Arte Canal Exhibition Center, near Plaza Castilla, which
appropriately enough is housed inside a converted nineteenth-century reservoir,
the interior of which still contains the elegant brick arches that used to hold
up the roof.
The Roman aqueduct, or ‘El Puente’ –
‘the bridge’, as it is known locally in Segovia, is certainly an impressive
feat of architecture – built in the late first or early second century AD, possibly
around the time of the Emperor Trajan (reigned 98–117), it covers a distance of
almost 700 metres, and changes direction several times in its course. An
initial single course of 75 arches transfers to a second course of 44 double
arches, reaching a maximum elevation of 29 metres above the valley floor. It’s
a remarkably elegant structure, built of granite blocks quarried from the
nearby Sierra de Guadarrama mountains, which have been fitted together without
the aid of mortar. The aqueduct structure itself is the terminus of an equally
remarkable piece of hydraulic engineering. Unlike a lot of Roman municipal
watercourses, which favoured water drawn from the cleaner sources of natural
springs, the aqueduct at Segovia is fed by the River Aceveda, from the
headwaters of the River Frio, in the pine and oak forested slopes of the
mountains. This meant that along its course the aqueduct incorporated a system
of basins which were used to filter out silt, sand and organic debris which
might otherwise contaminate or block the water-flow.
Segovia, 1562 - by Anton van den Wyngaerde |
Isabella I |
The old town of Segovia also
contains some notable buildings from later historical eras, all bearing the
marks of the town’s uses and abuses right up to the recent Spanish Civil War in
the 1930s. Located on the old pilgrim route of the Camino de Santiago from
Madrid, Segovia was notably the place where Isabella I was proclaimed Queen of
Castile and Leon in 1474 in the Church of San Miguel de Segovia. Her marriage
to Ferdinand II of Aragon five years earlier effectively unified Spain under
the twin dynasties, although she is perhaps best remembered for the fact that
the ‘Reconquista’, expelling the last of the Moorish rulers from Spain, was
completed during her and Ferdinand’s joint reign; however, this too is possibly
eclipsed by her and her husband having famously supported the first voyage of
Christopher Columbus to the New World in 1492. She is undoubtedly an important
figure in the history of Spain. Isabella and her husband, Ferdinand, are both
buried next to Granada’s Cathedral in the Capilla Real (see here).
The Alcazar, Segovia - David Roberts, 1838 |
The Alcazar, or Fortress, of
Segovia is one of the most impressive castles in Spain. Looking rather like the
iconic cartoon castle of a Disney Princess, with its conical roofed towers and its
formidable central bastion, it stands on a rocky prominence jutting out over
the landscape below, commanding some wonderful scenic views. Its foundations go
back as far as the Roman era, but the present structure, which largely dates
from the medieval period although having been much adapted over time, has
served as a Royal Palace, a military stronghold and college. It retains its
military association today as the Museum of the Royal College of Artillery.
Many of its rooms are splendidly decorated and it houses all manner of historical
weapons, ordinance, suits of armour, and standards. It is a fascinating place
to wander around, but an interesting unflagged modern-day military aside from
all the medieval armoury dotted about the place can be found on the battlements
of the roof, where many of the stones have been inscribed with graffiti by
soldiers who fought on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War in the
1930s – looking over the names scratched into the stonework you will find many of
foreign origin, from the International Brigades, including fighters from
Britain, who had signed up to fight for the anti-fascist cause.
Republican Fighters on the Extremadura Front, September 1936 |
From 31 May to
6 June 1937 the ‘Segovia Offensive’ was fought here in an attempt to hold back
the nationalist forces from their advance towards Bilbao, but the offensive ultimately
failed due to the nationalists’ air superiority. This battle is perhaps most
notably memorialised in Ernest Hemingway’s semi-fictional account of it in his
novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)
– which takes its title from a meditation upon the nature of death written by
the Old English poet, John Donne; the sentiment of which at the time rang with
an apposite sense of truth given all the anxious uncertainties posed by an existentially
threatened future and its call for a greater sense of unity in a time of genuine
adversity. Looking at those long forgotten names scratched upon the battlements
of the Alcazar, it is a passage which we’d perhaps do well to remember,
especially now that the devil of the extreme far-right is once again knocking
at Europe’s door:
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
San Martin Church, Segovia |
Segovia Cathedral |
Church of San Miguel de Segovia |
The Alcazar, Segovia |
Spanish Civil War era graffiti on the roof of the Alcazar |
Segovia, Spain |
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