When Philip V, Spain's first Bourbon king, bought this hillside near Segovia in 1719, he set out to build a private paradise that would rival the Versailles of his grandfather, Louis XIV. The result is La Granja de San Ildefonso: a restrained Baroque palace begun in 1721, wrapped in gilded State Rooms, Flemish tapestries, Carrara marble and glittering chandeliers from the royal glassworks nearby.
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When Philip V, Spain's first Bourbon king, bought this hillside near Segovia in 1719, he set out to build a private paradise that would rival the Versailles of his grandfather, Louis XIV. The result is La Granja de San Ildefonso: a restrained Baroque palace begun in 1721, wrapped in gilded State Rooms, Flemish tapestries, Carrara marble and glittering chandeliers from the royal glassworks nearby.
Visiting La Granja
The gardens are the true showpiece. Laid out in the formal French style across roughly 1,500 acres, they descend the natural slope of the Guadarrama foothills so that gravity alone drives water through twenty-six sculptural fountains. On scheduled display days the jets leap dozens of metres into the air, retelling myths of Diana, Apollo and the Fates in stone, lead and rushing water.
La Granja served as a beloved summer retreat for generations of Spanish monarchs, who escaped the heat of Madrid for cooler mountain air, hunting and court ceremony among the parterres. Today the palace and its grounds are preserved as a museum, and the small town that grew up around the royal works remains a designated historic site.