Mendoza Castle (Castillo de los
Mendoza) AKA New Castle of Manzanares el Real
Location: Madrid
Constructed: 1475
Description of Mendoza Castle
The new castle of Manzanares el Real, also known as Castillo de
los Mendoza or, simply, as the castle of Manzanares el Real, is a
palace-fortress of late medieval origin that is located in the
municipality of Manzanares el Real (Madrid, Spain), at the foot of
the Guadarrama mountain range and next to the Manzanares river.
Built in the fifteenth century around a Romanesque-Mudejar church,
which was integrated into the structure, it was conceived as the
palatial residence of the House of Mendoza, one of the most
influential lineages of Castile during the Late Middle Ages and the
Renaissance. It replaced a previous castle, which was located in a
nearby enclave, also owned by the aforementioned family.
The architect Juan Guas (1430-1496) participated in its
construction, who used Elizabethan Gothic traces, with
Hispano-Muslim influences. It is considered the precedent of the
Palace of the Infantado (Guadalajara), a key work of Spanish
Renaissance architecture, where the aforementioned author defined
the palatial prototype of the reign of the Catholic Monarchs. Thanks
to successive restorations, it has an excellent state of
preservation and currently houses an Interpretation Center on the
Middle Ages, as well as a collection of tapestries, paintings,
armors and furniture from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.
It was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument in 1931. It is owned by
the Duchy of the Infantado, although its administration and use
corresponds to the General Directorate of Tourism of the Community
of Madrid, which allows its visit and the celebration of public and
private events.
History of the Castle of Mendoza
The lands that surround the upper course of the
Manzanares River, known as El Real de Manzanares since the time of
Alfonso X el Sabio (1221-1284), were the subject of frequent
disputes between the various powers that emerged after the
Reconquista, due to their agricultural wealth and forestry. The
Communities of Villa and Tierra de Segovia and Madrid carried out
different litigations throughout the thirteenth century, which were
resolved in the fourteenth century by King Juan I of Castile
(1358-1390) with the donation of the region to the House of Mendoza
, through Pedro González de Mendoza (1340-1385), butler of the
monarch.
The eldest son of this, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (1367-1404),
Admiral of Castile, is credited with the construction of a first
fortress in the area, of which remains are preserved, which are
called the old castle of Manzanares el Real. In the last third of
the fifteenth century, the Mendozas decided to replace it with
another building, larger and more luxurious, in keeping with the
remarkable political and economic influence achieved by the family.
The new residence was bult by Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and de la
Vega (1417-1479), grandson of the admiral and first duke of the
Infantado. Thanks to his testament, it is known that the works were
already underway in June 1475.
After his death, the works were paralyzed for a
while. His first born son, Íñigo López de Mendoza and de la Vega
(1438-1500), probably took them back in 1480 and opted to modify the
original project, with the incorporation of a new body on the east
side, which significantly increased the stationary space. He also
hired the services of Juan Guas (1430-1496), architect of the
Catholic Monarchs and author of the Palace of the Infantado
(Guadalajara) and the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes (Toledo),
to homogenize and embellish the complex . With respect to the old
fortress, the House of Mendoza decided to dismantle and abandon it,
not only to reuse its factory materials, but also to prevent it from
falling into the hands of the enemies of the lineage, given its
proximity to the new building.
In the times of Íñigo López de Mendoza and Pimentel (1493-1566),
fourth Duke of the Infantado, barely a century after being
completed, the castle of Manzanares el Real was practically
uninhabited, as the activity of the dukedom centered on the city of
Guadalajara. The situation of abandonment worsened with his death,
because economic problems arose and lawsuits between the heirs of
the House of Mendoza.
The Ducal House itself proceeded to a first restoration in 1914. Its
architect was the architect Vicente Lampérez y Romea (1861-1923),
who applied the method of anastilosis and historicist criteria in
the reconstruction of certain structures, such as the porticoed
courtyard, which It was completely ruined. In 1964 a new
intervention took place, this time paid for by the administration,
which, under the direction of José Manuel González Valcárcel, was
aimed at the creation of a Castle Museum.
In the year 1965 Íñigo de Arteaga y Falguera (1905-1997), eighteenth
Duke of the Infantado, ceded the use of the castle to the Provincial
Council of Madrid, which continued with the consolidation and
rehabilitation works. These works made possible the opening to the
public visit of the monument, from 1977. In 1982 the building hosted
the act of constitution of the Assembly of Parliamentarians of
Madrid, which was presented the report writing the Statute of
Autonomy Madrid.With the entry into force of the aforementioned
statute in 1983, the whole was transferred to the Community of
Madrid, after assuming the powers and assets of the Provincial
Council. The new museum of Castle Mendoza also received a collection
of ten flamenco tapestries of the seventeenth century, which is installed inside the fortress.
The Community of Madrid returned to act on the Mendoza castle in
2005, with the purpose of implanting a new project and of tourist
attraction. This plan was completed in the following years with the
creation of a garden of Renaissance inspiration, inaugurated in
2013.