The Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso, known as La Granja, is an early 18th-century palace in the small town of San Ildefonso, located in the hills near Segovia and 80 kilometres north of Madrid, within the Province of Segovia in central Spain.
Learn more insights from Wanderboat AI.
Palacio Real de la Granja Garden
4.6
(752)
La Granja de San Ildefonso
4.7
(1.1K)
Parterre de la Fama
4.8
(9)
Royal Glass Factory of La Granja
4.5
(426)
El Europeo
3.5
(487)
Restaurante Canonigos
3.6
(166)
$$
Restaurante Casa Zaca
4.6
(1.2K)
La Taberna del Pelón
4.3
(599)
Not long after the Islamic Empire reached the Pyrenees in the 8th century, Christian armies began their campaign to reclaim Spain. Beginning with the conquest of Barcelona in 801 and ending with the conquest of Granada in 1492, the Christian rulers began the 700-year transition from Islamic to Christian Spain. Many of the Islamic-style buildings built by the Arab rulers were transformed during Christian rule. As the Christian revival intensified, the Muslims were driven out, and in 1120 Segovia fell into Christian hands. In the centuries that followed, the kings who resided in Segovia used the forests at the foot of the Guadarrama Mountains as hunting grounds. The kings continued to use the pine forests of Segovia as a refuge, and in 1717, Philip V also admired the beauty of the area. The Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso is one of the best examples of the glory of the 18th-century monarchy. Philip V decided to build a palace and gardens adorned with sculptures and fountains reminiscent of his childhood. He modeled his great personal masterpiece after the French palace of his grandfather, Louis XIV, and he thought it would be an ideal place to retire. The palace includes the King's private apartments, the Portrait Gallery, the King's Bedchamber, an impressively ornate chamber, and a magnificent and unique marble hall. In addition to visiting the palace, be sure to visit the Tapestry Museum and the Royal Chapel. The gardens were as important to Philip V as the palace itself, and he devoted much of his time to them. The gardens of the Palace of La Grande are a type of formal French garden that began to spread throughout Europe in the late 17th century after the works of André Le Nôtre became popular. The Palace of Versailles is the most famous and revered example of a Baroque formal garden, but Philip V had no intention of imitating his grandfather Louis XIV's vast monarchical landscape at La Grande. He made it clear that after his retirement, his palace should resemble the Marly Gardens, where the lesser-known "Sun King" once resided. The abundance of water flowing down from the mountains was one of the main attractions of the gardens for Philip V. This allowed him to create numerous fountains in the gardens, many of which were well supplied with water. The original hydraulic system is perfectly preserved and still...
Read more
This is a grand palace near Segovia but honestly not as interesting as the Alcázar in Segovia itself. There are many state rooms, a museum of tapestry and extensive gardens, but for all this our visit - on a hot day - was a little disappointing.
My parents are in their 80s and we planned to take things fairly gently: a walk around the gardens, a sit down for a drink and a snack, and then do the inside. The audio guide implies that there's enough to see for 3 hours' worth of visit at a slowish pace.
Firstly, the gardens are designed around several "flights" fountains which were not operating. Apparently they are turned on for five days in the year to save water. While I understand this, it certainly spoils the impact and focuses your attention to various places where the fountain structures are shored up with bits of wood. A few fountains turned on might have been a good compromise.
Most serious of all, though, is that there is no cafe. We were directed only to cafés outside the palace and to the pathetic fridge that I've photographed at the side of the gift shop - of course they've found room for a gift shop! Going out to a cafe involves quite a walk and getting back through about twenty minutes worth of security and ticketing so we bought bottles of water and sat in a corridor by the toilets.
Inside the main section there were no obvious lifts for my parents and no shortened version of the tour, which by this stage we needed. The tapestries seemed to be hung out of order and none of the attendants seemed keen to show us which was which. The attendants outnumbered the visitors by this stage as, I suppose, most people had given up for the day and gone out for lunch. Despite the rooms being all but deserted, one of the attendants told my father off for standing in a doorway.
In the end we gave up on the audio and walked straight through probably more than half the state rooms which was a pity. And I think at the end of it overtired my parents one of whom was unwell the following day.
So - they need to design shortened tours throughout - the outside one featuring a small selection of fountains that are on every day. And most important - add a cafe. If there's really no space anywhere, get rid of at least two thirds of the gift shop. And provide more seating, especially in the...
Read more
La vertiente septentrional de la sierra de Guadarrama fue durante la Edad Media lugar de caza reservado para los reyes de Castilla, quienes la frecuentaban dada su riqueza cinegética y su proximidad a la ciudad de Segovia. Según crónicas de la época, el primer refugio real de monteros (conocido como Casa del Bosque) fue mandado construir por el rey Enrique III en el pueblo de Valsaín, el rey Enrique IV construyó un albergue y una pequeña ermita dedicada al arzobispo San Ildefonso. En 1477 los Reyes Católicos donaron la ermita y el albergue con extensiones de tierra a la congregación de los monjes jerónimos del Monasterio del Parral en Segovia. Estos monjes hicieron pequeñas reformas y se trasladaban en los meses de verano cuando el aire fresco de la Sierra era más agradable que en Segovia. Esta granja, lugar de meditación y recreo de los monjes del Parral, fue el origen del pueblo y de ella tomó el nombre. El rey Felipe II realizó la última reforma y convirtió el edificio en un suntuoso palacio que sirvió de residencia a sus sucesores hasta Carlos II, en tiempo del cual un gran incendio destruyó la parte de poniente en 1682.
El duque de Anjou nació en Versalles (Francia) en 1683 y se crio en la corte de su abuelo Luis XIV. De carácter introvertido, era afable e inteligente y muy aficionado al ejercicio físico. En 1700, cuando cumplió 17 años, se convirtió en Felipe V (el Animoso), rey de España y de las Indias.
El monarca frecuentaba los reales montes de Valsaín, cazando en compañía de la reina y del duque del Arco, hacia 1718. Se enamora del paisaje y de la riqueza cinegética de la zona, y decidió levantar un palacio en el lugar en que se encontraba la ermita de San Ildefonso, para lo cual compró a la comunidad de monjes del Parral la granja-ermita, la hospedería y terrenos circundantes. El rey que, parece, quiso imitar la vida de Felipe II, acabó demostrando que había sido educado en la corte de Luis XIV y lo que pudiera haber sido otro Palacio de El Escorial, acabó siendo una copia del Palacio de Versalles.
Teodoro Ardemans, maestro mayor del Real Palacio y de la Villa de Madrid, fue el encargado de realizar los planos y el proyecto del nuevo palacio. La fecha de iniciación de las obras es 1721.3 La ejecución de la obra se encargó al aparejador Juan Román. Prácticamente al unísono de la obra arquitectónica comienza el trazado y construcción de los jardines bajo la dirección del escultor René Carlier y del jardinero Étienne Boutelou. Los movimientos de tierra fueron dirigidos por el ingeniero Étienne Marchand que, además, se hizo cargo de la dirección de las obras en 1725. De las fuentes y estatuas se encargó un grupo de relevantes escultores, entre los que destacaron René Frémin, Jean Thierry, Hubert Demandré, Pedro Pitué, Santiago Bousseau, etc.
El trazado y diseño de los jardines corresponde al estilo clásico francés, cuyo creador fue Le Nôtre, autor de los jardines de Versalles. Las esculturas de las fuentes se pensó en un principio realizarlas en bronce pero, debido a problemas económicos, se decidió finalmente realizarlas en plomo, estableciéndose la fundición en el palacio de Valsaín. A partir de 1724, el Real Sitio comienza a adquirir su máximo esplendor, pues ya no es un palacio más de la geografía española sino que pasa a ser la residencia veraniega del rey de España, con su correspondiente corte.
En la planta baja de este palacio se exhibía la colección de esculturas de la reina Cristina de Suecia, quien las reunió en su exilio en Roma tras su abdicación al trono. Fueron adquiridas expresamente para este palacio por Felipe V junto con sus peanas, elaboradas en Italia por encargo de la exreina sueca, las cuales aún subsisten en los espacios originales. Las esculturas fueron trasladadas en el siglo xix al Museo del Prado y reemplazadas en sus peanas por reproducciones...
Read more
&promo_pic=/hotel-sample/coolest.webp)
