Castle of Manzanares El Real (Madrid)

Eastern view of the castle

The Mendoza castle was built on a Romanesque-Mudejar hermitage. The works began around the year 1475 by the first Duke of Infantado and finished by his son, Don Íñigo López de Mendoza, with Juan Guas, architect of the Catholic Monarchs, participating in its construction. The castle has a square plan, it is topped with three circular crenellated towers and an octagonal keep, all decorated with the traditional Elizabethan balls. It has an outer wall or barbican that surrounds it in its entirety. The parade ground consists of two superimposed galleries of Elizabethan Gothic style where the rooms and court rooms. It currently houses an Interpretation Center on the Middle Ages, as well as a collection of tapestries, paintings, armor and furniture from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

Barbican towers that protected the access to the castle

Detail of the cornice on corbels that surrounds the barbican towers

Entrance gate to the inner enclosure of the castle

Detail of the heraldic shield of the Duchy of Infantado over the entrance door

Space between the barbican and the inner wall of the castle

Battlements and shooting chambers inside the barbican

Indoor view of arrow slit in a barbican shooting chamber

Entrance gate to the indoor building of the castle

Parade ground with two superimposed galleries in the Elizabethan Gothic style

Heraldic shield of the Duchy of Infantado in the parade ground

Upper gallery of the parade ground that gives access to the castle rooms

Room of Santillana dedicated to meetings and dining room

Room of the Infantado of diverse uses, in it one ate, played, received, danced or slept

Ladies dais

Indoor lookout window of the ladies dais

Master bedroom

Oratory next to the bedroom where a trunk with the coffin of Don Juan Hurtado de Mendoza is currently located

Window with benches next to the stairs of one of the towers

Indoor view of the gallery or viewpoint of Juan Guas

Detail of the windows of the Juan Guas gallery, with semicircular arches and decorative tracery

Detail of one of the sentry boxes installed along the battlement of the castle

Knight tower on south-west of the wall

View of the parade ground from the coastal path of the west wall

Knight tower on the north-west tower of the wall

Coastal path on the north wall

Knight tower on the north-east tower of the wall decorated like the rest 

with the traditional Elizabethan balls

Remains of the old Church of Santa María de la Nava on the eastern side of the castle

Access to the Juan Guas gallery from the coastal path on the east wall

Postern in the south wall with possible access to the coastal path of the barbican

Exit door of the castle

South-west view of the castle

South-west tower of the barbican

South-west tower of the castle

South wall of the castle

Eastern canvas of the south barbican

Outer view of the Juan Guas gallery on the south wall of the castle

Homage tower in the south-east corner of the castle

Outer view of the lookout window of the Ladies dais room

Knight tower on the homage tower of the castle

South-east view of the castle

Western canvas of the south barbican

Western canvas of the south wall of the castle

South-east tower of the castle

Eastern view of the castle

East tower of the barbican

East tower of the castle

North-east view of the castle

View of the north facade of the castle

Eastern canvas of the north barbican