The Roman civilisation called it Toletum. Under its influence, temples, theatres, amphitheatres, circuses, walls and an aqueduct were built. Some remains of these constructions are still visible and can be visited, as is the case of the Roman Circus in the area of Vega Baja. With the disappearance of Roman Hispania, the city was occupied by Germanic peoples. The Visigoths made it their capital, extending their kingdom throughout the Iberian Peninsula.

The conversion of their king Recaredo, in the year 587, and the Visigoth councils held therein resulted in the city’s first links with Christianity. This would culminate centuries later in its designation as Spain’s primate see. ith the arrival of the Moors at the beginning of the 8th century, the city’s name was changed to Toleitola. Thus began a period of tolerance among the three cultures and religions Jewish, Islamic and Christian), although there were also times of tension and clashes.

Alfonso VI’s troops entered Toledo on May 25th, 1085, putting an end to Arab dominion, although the conquest of the entire Iberian Peninsula was not completed until 1492. In those medieval centuries, the city of Toledo was the seat of the Court and the Castilian monarchy’s capital. It was during those centuries that the well-known “Translators School of Toledo” was developed. Under the economic patronage and protection of Toledo’s archbishops, Jewish and Mozarabic Christians undertook the translation of an important number of classical Greek and Roman works, written by Aristotle, Ptolemy and Hippocrates, among others, which had come to Spain as manuscript copies written in Arabic.

Toledo would attain its greatest splendour in the 16th century, even after the capital was moved to Madrid in 1561. It had a population of around 70,000 at that time, an amount that was only surpassed at the end of the 20th century. The only important institution that remained in the city was the Church. It even came to be considered a second Rome and many authors, from the 16th to 18th centuries, described it as a convent city.

It was in this atmosphere that a painter from Crete called Domenico Theotocopuli produced his best paintings. He is better known as El Greco and is highly valued by today´s artistic avant-gardes.

The economic and demographic decline that was experienced from the 17th century onwards only began to change during the second half of the 18th century, with the revitalisation of the silk fabric industry and the establishment of the Royal Weapons Factory.

In the 19th century, the city was boosted by military instruction institutes (Infantry Academy, Shooting School) and the arrival of countless visitors attracted by its romantic image. Novelists such as M. Barrés or poets like Rilke praised Toledo’s beauty in their publications. The bureaucratic and military city of the 19th century gave way, in the 20th century, to a population centre promoting its heritage and artistic values, thereby becoming one of Spain’s most important tourist destinations. All the different architectural styles and cultures have left behind proof of their presence in Toledo.

The public authorities have made a great effort to preserve this legacy in an appropriate state, which is appreciated by the hundreds of thousands of people visiting it each year. Its description as a museum-city is based on the existence of important centres, such as the Santa Cruz Museum, the Sephardic Museum, the Primate Cathedral Museum, the Moors Workshop Museum, the Museum of the Councils and Visigoth Culture, the Alcázar Museum, the Victorio Macho Museum and El Greco’s House-Museum.

Mariano García Rupérez
Municipal Archivist of Toledo City Council