Real Sitio de San Ildefonso explained

San Ildefonso
Other Name:Real Sitio de San Ildefonso
Settlement Type:Municipality
Pushpin Map:Spain Castile and León#Spain
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Spain.
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Type1:Autonomous community
Subdivision Type2:Province
Subdivision Type3:Comarca
Subdivision Name3:Ciudad y Tierra de Segovia
Elevation M:1193
Area Total Km2:144.81
Population Demonym:Granjeños
Population Density Km2:auto
Timezone:CET
Utc Offset:+1
Timezone Dst:CEST
Utc Offset Dst:+2
Postal Code Type:Postal code
Postal Code:40100
Area Code Type:Dialing code
Leader Title:Mayor
Leader Name:Jose Luis Vázquez Fernández

San Ildefonso (pronounced as /es/), La Granja (pronounced as /es/), or La Granja de San Ildefonso, is a town and municipality in the Province of Segovia, in the Castile and León autonomous region of central Spain.

It is located in the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains, 11km (07miles) from Segovia, and 80km (50miles) north of Madrid.[1]

History

La Granja palace

See main article: Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso. "La Granja" (Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso) is a royal palace and gardens built adjacent to the town in 1721-24.[2] It was commissioned by King Philip V, and designed in the Spanish Baroque and French Baroque styles. It was modeled on the Palace of Versailles, that was built by Philip's grandfather Louis XIV of France, and has been called the "Versailles of Spain." The palace is set in extensive gardens designed in the Jardin à la française style, whose epitome is the Gardens of Versailles, and beyond those surrounded in English landscape style gardens and woodlands.[1]

For the next two hundred years, La Granja was the court's main summer palace, until the Second Spanish Republic formed in 1931.

La Granja and the town are a popular tourist destination. The royal site is part of the Patrimonio Nacional of Spain, which holds and maintains many of the Crown's lands and palaces. It is a popular tourist attraction, with paintings, portraits, and a museum of Flemish tapestries.

Events

Three important international treaties between Spain and France or Portugal bear the name Treaty of San Ildefonso. They were each negotiated and signed at La Granja palace between 1777 and 1800.

On 12 August 1836 at La Granja palace, some of the Liberal leaders compelled Queen Christina to sign a decree restoring the Constitution of 1812.

La Granja gallery

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.spain.info/en/que-quieres/ciudades-pueblos/otros-destinos/san_ildefonso_o_la_granja.html Spain.info: Tourism in San Ildefonso
  2. http://www.patrimonionacional.es/en/real-sitio/palacios/8287 Patrimonio Nacional: La Granja