Pastrana is a medieval town and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the province of

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

, Castile-La Mancha, Spain, southeast of the provincial capital,

. It is notable as the site of the imprisonment of the one-eyed Princess of Éboli by

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

after a court scandal in 1573, and also as the home since the 17th century of the

Pastrana tapestries The Pastrana Tapestries ( pt, Tapeçarias de Pastrana) are four large tapestries commissioned by king Afonso V of Portugal to celebrate the successful conquest of the Moroccan cities of Asilah and Tangier by the Portuguese in 1471. Each measures a ...

, a set of four Flemish tapestries depicting the attack of

Alfonso V of Portugal Afonso V () (15 January 1432 – 28 August 1481), known by the sobriquet the African (), was King of Portugal from 1438 until his death in 1481, with a brief interruption in 1477. His sobriquet refers to his military conquests in Northern Africa. ...

on Morocco in 1471.A recent discussion of some of these tapestries as historic sources can be accessed in Elbl, Martin Malcolm, ''Portuguese Tangier (1471-1662): Colonial Urban Fabric as Cross-Cultural Skeleton'' (Peterborough, 2013): https://books.google.com/books?id=AeTBAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1039&lpg=PA1022&focus=viewport&dq=portuguese+tangier (accessed April 12, 2013).

Geography

Pastrana is centered on a

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...

, La Plaza de la Hora (usually referred to as "La Plaza", in English "the square of the hour"), which is overlooked by the Ducal Palace, the aforementioned Princess' palace and prison rolled into one. According to legend, she would be allowed to gaze out onto the square from the window of the room she was confined to for one hour a day, whence came the square's name. Fanning out from La Plaza are narrow, cobbled streets lined with houses, bars and shops. The main street leads to the Iglesia de la Asunción, in whose museum the tapestries are kept, and also a painting by

El Greco Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El G ...

. Further along are the old

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

quarters.

Festivals

Important events are

Semana Santa Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...

at Easter and La Fiesta in August, a week of events, such as concerts, parties,

encierro A running of the bulls ( es, encierro, from the verb ''encerrar'', 'to corral, to enclose'; oc, abrivado, literally 'haste, momentum'; ca, correbous, 'run-bulls') is an event that involves running in front of a small group of bulls, typicall ...

s and

bullfight Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations. There are several variations, including some forms wh ...

s, with the town congregating in La Plaza every evening for a night of live music and dancing.

External links

*A Stranger In Spain () by

H. V. Morton Henry Canova Vollam Morton (known as H. V. Morton), (26 July 1892 – 18 June 1979) was a journalist and pioneering travel writer from Lancashire, England. He was best known for his many books on London, Great Britain and the Holy Land. He fi ...

. See Chapter III for Morton's travels through Pastrana.

References

{{authority control Municipalities in the Province of Guadalajara

Geography

Festivals

See also

External links

References