Portadas mudéjares de palacios de Toledo

Abstract

Ever since its recovery from the Arabs by Alfonso VI in 1085 and particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, Toledo became the city concentrating both Castilian political power and the individual noblemen holding it. In every respect the city became the scene of intense competition between these individuals, a competition that is visible in the building of private homes, the grandee’s material status symbol. The restrained ornamental and compositional lines regulating the buildings of this period, however, forced each palace to express its owner’s wealth by means of its façade, a consequence of the fascination exerted by Almohad architecture across the border, in spite of the ongoing confrontation, and its resulting influence.