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Some history
 

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Toledo was known to the Romans, who captured it in 193 BC, as Toletum , a small but well-defended town. Taken by the Visigoths, who made it their capital, it was already an important cultural and trading centre by the time the Moors arrived in 712. The period which followed, with Moors, Jews and Mozarabes (Christians subject to Moorish rule) living together in relative equality, was one of rapid growth and prosperity and Toledo became the most important northern outpost of the Muslim emirates. Though there are few physical remains of this period, except the miniature mosque of Cristo de la Luz , the long domination has left a clear mark on the atmosphere and shape of the whole city.

When the Christian king Alfonso VI "reconquered" the town in 1085, with the assistance of El Cid, Moorish influence scarcely weakened. Although Toledo became the capital of Castile and the base for campaigns against the Moors in the south, the city itself was a haven of cultural tolerance. Not only was there a school of translators revealing the scientific and philosophical achievements of the East, but Arab craftsmen and techniques remained responsible for many of the finest buildings of the period: look, for example, at the churches of San Roman or Santiago del Arrabal or at any of the old city gates .

At the same time Jewish culture remained powerful. There were, at one time, at least seven synagogues - of which two, Santa Maria la Blanca and El Transito , survive - and Jews occupied many positions of power. The most famous was Samuel Levi, treasurer and right-hand man of Pedro the Cruel until the king lived up to his name by murdering him and stealing his wealth. From this period, too, dates the most important purely Christian monument, Toledo's awesome Catedral (the city has remained the seat of the Catholic primate to this day).

This golden age ended abruptly in the sixteenth century with the transfer of the capital to Madrid, following hard on the heels of the Inquisition's mass expulsion of Muslims and Jews; some of the latter responded by taking refuge in Catholicism, becoming known as Conversos . Few Jews remain today, though Samuel Toledano, late president of the Spanish Israelite Community, was descended from a fifteenth-century grand rabbi, his family name considered proof of his descent from Conversos .

The city played little part in subsequent Spanish history until the Civil War and it remains, despite the droves of tourists, essentially the medieval city so often painted by El Greco. Sadly, however, the Tajo, the city's old lifeblood, is now highly polluted, and its waters greatly depleted by industry and agriculture. And, as in Venice, fewer and fewer people live in the city centre; most who work there prefer to commute from the expanding suburbs.

Toledo has been a byword for fine steel for a thousand years or more and the glint of knives in souvenir shops is one of the first things you'll notice on arrival. Some have traced the craft back to the Romans and it was certainly a growth industry when the Moors were here. By the seventeenth century, Samuel Butler was complaining that "the trenchant blade, Toledo trusty, for want of fighting was growing rusty". Today it's surprising that, except for a modern display in the Alcazar, there's little to see outside the shops; in these you can still admire attractive damascene steel swords and knives, with handles inlaid with decorative gold and silver filigree.


Other useful information for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections):




Spain,
Toledo