Cuéllar Castle
Cuéllar Castle or The Castle of the Dukes of Alburquerque is the most emblematic monument in the town of Cuéllar, located in the province of Segovia, autonomous community of Castile and León, in Spain. It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural on 3 June 1931.
The castle is conserved in good condition, and it has been built in different architectural styles between the 13th and 18th century. Much of the castle in the Gothic and Renaissance styles. The military building was extended and transformed in the 16th century, turning it into the palace of the Duke of Alburquerque. During its different building stages, masters such as Juan Guas, Hanequin of Brussels and her son Hanequin de Cuéllar, Juan, Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón, and Juan Gil de Hontañón "el mozo" or Juan de Álava have worked on the castle.
Among its historical owners, stands out Álvaro de Luna and Beltrán de la Cueva, as well as the successive Dukes of Alburquerque. Distinguished guests on it were some Castilian monarchs, as Juan I and his wife the Queen Leonor de Aragón y de Sicilia, that died on it, or María de Molina, that took refuge on this castle when her Kingdom was rejecting her. Also stands out figures as the painter Francisco Javier Parcerisa, or the writer José de Espronceda, the generals Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo and Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, who set his garrison barracks in this castle during the Spanish War of Independence.
The Dukes of Alburquerque lived in this castle for centuries until they moved to Madrid to be close to the court. Thereafter they used the castle for leisure and holidays, abandoning the building slowly. In the late 19th century the castle was almost completely abandoned, and was the victim of robberies. In 1938 a political prison was created within the castle, and later a sanatorium for prisoners affected by tuberculosis. It was used as a prison until 1966.
In 1972, the Department of Fine Arts carried out an intensive restoration, and made it the home of a Vocational Education school, which continues to this day.
