SEGOVIA, the capital of the Spanish province of Segovia; on the railway from Madrid to Valladolid and Zamora. Pop. (1930) 18,027. Segovia is built upon a narrow ridge of rock which rises in the valley of the Eresma, where this river is joined by the Clamores. It is an episcopal see in the archbishopric of Valladolid. The place has many records and monuments of the vicissitudes of fortune through which it has passed, foremost among the latter being the ancient alc5,zar or citadel, the cathe dral and the aqueduct of Trajan.
The alcazar is perched upon the western tip of the long tongue of rock upon which the city is built. Of the original mediaeval fortress but little remains save the noble facade. The 16th-century cathedral (1521-1577), the work of Juan Gil de Ontanon and his son Rodrigo, is a well-proportioned and delicate piece of Late Gothic—the latest of its kind in Spain—and contains some very fine stained glass. The most remarkable of the many other churches are those of La Vera Cruz (Knights Templar, Roman esque of the early 13th century), San Millan and San Juan (both Romanesque of the second half of the i3th), El Parral (Gothic of early 16th century), and Corpus Christi, an ancient Jewish sanctuary and an interesting specimen of Moorish work. The
towers and external cloistering, or corredores, of several of the later churches—especially those of San Esteban and San Martin —are fine. The great aqueduct, however, called El Puente del Diablo, usually ranks as the glory of Segovia. It dates probably from the time of Trajan (c. A.D. 53-117), and is now in working order, bringing the waters of the Rio Frio down from the Sierra Fuenfria, 10 m. S. The bridge portion striding across the valley into the city is 847 yd. long, and consists of a double tier of superimposed arches, built of rough-hewn granite blocks, laid without lime or cement. (For illustration, see AQUEDUCT.) The royal artillery school of Spain is established here.