Coca Castle (Spanish: Castillo Mudéjar de Coca) is located in the province of Segovia, Spain.
It was built on the site of ancient Cauca, the birthplace of the Roman emperor Theodosius, and was populated by the Arevaca in the 2nd century BC.
Coca Castle Architecture
Situated on a plain on the banks of the rivers Voltoya and Eresma, with markedly uneven ground on three of its sides, it is a magnificent example of a late medieval castle–a palace.
Begun in 1448 by Don Alonso de Fonseca (1418–1473), Bishop of Avila and Archbishop of Seville, but still unfinished at the end of the 15th century, Coca is a characteristic example of the Mudéjar style, combining elements drawn from Islamic traditions with Flamboyant Gothic.
Coca Castle is built of brick, laid on a smooth surface so that the mortar layers and lines of brickwork are equally emphasized, creating a decorative surface pattern. The rectangular ground plan comprises two curtain walls surrounding a central enceinte, on the north side of which is the keep (Tower of Homage).
Traces of the outer curtain wall and the large rectangular towers marking the boundaries of a wide ditch survive. On the second curtain wall, beyond the bridge, is a gateway near the Tower of Homage; its high, pointed brick arch has a square-framed border, and the decorative brickwork in the upper part recalls Arabic schemes.
The walls of the second curtain, which has an accentuated talus down to the ditch, have cylindrical turrets in the center of each side, with smaller ones in the spaces between. The corner towers are polygonal, with further polygonal turrets at the angles.
The walls are machicolated and crowned with two or three sets of battlements in the form of turrets with stepped crests, which jut out in a decorative fashion, according to the varying formations of the brickwork.
Coca Castle is closely related to those of Casarubios del Monte (Toledo), Arroyomolinos (Madrid), Arevalo (Avila), and La Mota Castle in Medina del Campo (Valladolid). The same masons probably worked at La Mota and at Coca: Fernando Carreño, Alfonso Nieto, and the Moors Abdallah de Medina and Ali de Lerma. Coca became a national monument in 1931.
Coca Castle Visitor info
Today the castle hosts a training school for foresters, but can still be visited. Visits can be made only with a guided tour (available in English too).
Coca Castle Location
Coca Castle Address: Castillo Mudéjar, Calle de la Ronda del Castillo, 40480 Coca, Spain. Get help with directions: