1. Introduction | Turismo de Segovia

WHY A WALL?

“Holy are the walls and the gates of cities and towns”.
Alfonso X the Wise, Partida III, Title XXVIII, Law XV.

First of all, the wall was a fortification that protected the territory and its inhabitants from enemy attacks. However, the wall was not just a defensive structure; it also held significant symbolic and political meaning in medieval society, as it marked the boundaries of the city and separated its residents from the outside world.

This physical barrier symbolised the existing social hierarchy of the time, as those inside the wall enjoyed protection and privileges, while those outside were considered inferior and exposed to dangers and threats.

The walls also served as a form of health protection. When plagues occurred, the gates would be closed, and strict control was enforced over who could enter to prevent contagion. In some cases, the opposite would happen: when the city was infected and full of the sick, the ill were not allowed to leave.

Protected by the divine

It was common to place religious images on the inner side of the gates, not only as protection against enemy attacks but also against diseases such as the plague. With these images, travellers were also safeguarded when they set out beyond the security of the walls.

That said, the most important function of the wall was to protect the transit of goods, which was the basis of taxation. In this regard, a tax known as the portazgo was collected, with the Puerta de Santiago being the gate that collected the largest amounts.

HISTORY

"There is a time to build,
And a time to tear down what has been built".
Eclesiastés.

The first walled enclosure dates from the Celtiberian period, when a small area of land was fortified around what is now the Alcázar.

A larger city wall would be built in the third century in Roman times,with the idea of dealing with the instability caused throughout the empire by the barbarian invasions.

A small group, possibly Berbers, would occupy the city during the Muslim presence and reinforce part of the wall as the bases of the closest stretch, shown by Puerta de San Andrés (Saint Andrew’s city gate).

In an attempt to secure the newly conquered nuclei, the Castilian kings began to fortify the squares once the city of Toledo was taken in 1085. With the Christian repopulation of Segovia three years later, Raimundo de Borgoña, Alfonso VI’s son-in-law, who will carry out the construction of the walled enclosure that closely resembles the one that we have to this day

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the War of the Communities, especially virulent in our city, left the wall and the Alcázar, a royalist stronghold, badly damaged.

Over the centuries, the loss of the defensive value with which this construction arose built houses attached to the city wall and even on the city wall itself, especially on the sections that look to the valley of Clamores, passing the battlements to become windows and open large openings in the walls.

The plague and the drapery crisis caused fortified gates and houses to be abandoned, giving rise to a movement called "Down with the walls".

In 1941 it was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument. Then, UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 1985, along with the Aqueduct and the old city.

"Down with the walls"

With this battle cry, city walls, gates, and fortifications were demolished in our towns, under the pretext that they were old and useless. It all began in Barcelona in 1840, prompted by the study of Dr. Pere Felip Monlau on the beneficial effects of demolishing the walls on the city, as he argued that "surrounding a population with strong walls is to oppose its physical development and progress in all areas."