Day Trip to Toledo

Located only about an hour outside of Madrid by bus, Toledo is one of the most historic cities in Spain. As a part of our study abroad program, our group took a day trip to Toledo to learn about the significant role it has played in Spain's history.

When you approach Toledo, you see a series of giant walls that you must pass through to reach the city proper. It is located on top of a hill that is surrounded by the Tagus River, which extends all the way to Portugal!

The unique thing about Toledo is that it hosted the coexistence of Muslim, Jewish, and Catholic communities. Many of the buildings that still survive today were once synagogues or mosques. However, as is a common theme throughout Spanish history, Catholic rulers did exert their power of communities of different faith. As a result, the Cathedral of Toledo (Pictured Below) was constructed to be an extremely outwardly impressive building, with huge towers, elaborate interior artwork and gold-plated everything, not-so-subtly demonstrating the wealth and power of the Catholics.

(The giant spire you can see in the middle of the picture below is one of the two towers of the Catedral de Toledo. She second Picture features an intricate fresco inside the cathedral that shines light onto an elaborate, golden carving.)

The picture below is actually the inside of what was originally a mosque. Mosques are built to be very humble on the outside and are not nearly as ornate as cathedrals. The idea behind this is that your religious work should focus on purifying what is inside, not decorating what is outside. 

Like most of the mosques and synagogues in Toledo, at one point a catholic ruler converted the building to serve their own religion, which is why a crucified Christ is on display inside the mosque.

Our tour guide, Marta (who also teaches one of my classes) knows everything there is to know about everything, so it was really amazing to hear all about the city and its diverse history. Her academic and research focus emphasizes history and art history. Marta took us to a very unassuming building to see the painting below. 

Painted by El Greco, one of the most famous and innovative artists of the Renaissance era, painted this image as a commission for Count Orgaz. It features his soul separating from his deceased body and being guided to heaven by angels. Interestingly, commissioned artists at the time were paid per face and hand, which helps to explain the crowded nature of the painting.

The painting ended up in a very small parish in Toledo after some historical drama. The same Count featured in the painting willed a certain amount of money to be paid to the parish each year following his death. His family never fulfilled this wish, and hundreds of years later, the guardian of the parish sued the estate. As settlement, they received rightful ownership of the painting as well as a handsome lump sum payment.

It is crazy to think that while all of this was happening, the United States wasn't even close to conception. Buildings older than our nation's capital are still being actively used today, creating what is referred to as a "culture of living history." I am very excited to see what other gems I uncover during my time in Spain.