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Fortified house of El Campillo

El Escorial, Cuenca del Guadarrama, Madrid

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Historical milestones

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Fortified house of El Campillo

Monument · El Escorial, Cuenca del Guadarrama, Madrid

With origins in the 12th century, in the Segovian sexmo of Casarrubios, this late-medieval palatial residence of granite masonry served as a hunting lodge for the House of Trastámara. Philip II bought the sites of Campillo and Monasterio from Bernardino de Cárdenas and incorporated them into the vast grounds of the Real Sitio de El Escorial from 1561 onward, where farmland and pasture were also worked to supply the monastery; the tower was remodelled in the 16th century by Francisco de Mora to bring it into the Escorial estate. There is no firm evidence of its origin, though it may have been commissioned by Henry IV of Castile, who gave it its fortified appearance. Figures such as Rodrigo Manrique and Isabella I of Castile passed through it. Today it is run by a private company as a conference centre.

Photo: jlastras (CC BY 2.0)

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