Alcázar of Toledo

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The Alcázar of Toledo at dusk

The Alcázar of Toledo is a stone fortification, located in the highest part of Toledo, Spain. Once used as a Roman palace in the 3rd century, it was restored under Alfonso VI and Alfonso X and renovated in 1535.

During the Spanish Civil War, nationalist Colonel José Moscardó Ituarte held the building against overwhelming Spanish Republican forces. The incident became a central piece of Spanish Nationalist lore especially the story of Moscardó's son Luis. The Republicans kidnapped Moscardó's son, Luis, and demanded that the Alcázar be surrendered or they would kill his son. Luis told his father "Surrender or they will shoot me," his father replied "then commend your soul to God, shout 'Viva Cristo Rey' and die like a hero."[1] Moscardó refused to surrender, and the Republicans executed his son.

The events of the Spanish Civil War at the Alcázar made the structure a symbol for the Spanish Nationalism and inspired the naming of El Alcázar, a far-right newspaper that began during the civil war and ended during the Spanish transition to democracy as the mouthpiece for Búnker, a faction of francoists who opposed reform after Francisco Franco's death.

By the end of the Siege of the Alcázar, the building had been severely damaged. After the war, it was rebuilt and now houses the Castilla-La Mancha Regional Library ("Biblioteca Autonómica") and the Museum of the Army ("Museo del Ejército").