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.