In November, 1700, the king Carlos II, the last Austrian king of Spain, died in Madrid without heir. In his will, he asked the agreement of the french king Louis XIV to crown his grandson Phillipe d'Anjou as the new king of the Spanish empire. The acceptance of the proposal, that reinforced very much the power of France, gave rise to seventeen years of war in Europe, and to fifteen of civil war in Spain. Nevertheless, Phillipe arrived to Madrid in February, 1701 as Felipe V, the first king of a Bourbonic Spanish dynasty that has persisted until present.

The new king had grown in the palace of Versailles, a place quite different from the austere "alcázar" of the Austrians in Madrid. So that, not late after the end of the civil war Phillipe begun to think about his own Spanish Versailles, which finally came as a summer royal residence placed on the northern slope of the "Sierra de Guadarrama", the green and foresty mountains of Madrid. Works begun in 1721 under the management of the architect Théodore Ardemans, who designed a small French palace with elements from the Spanish Austrian style. Latest participation of the Italians Juvara and Sachetti in the project added a very interesting touch.

But Versailles was not only stone, it was mainly light, colour, art and water, all toghether in a huge and splendid garden. So that, Phillipe called the best of the palace of his grandfather to design and built the gardens and fountains of the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso, a piece of the best France in the heart of Castile. René Carlier, Stéphane Boutelou and Stéphane Marchand were the artists who designed the gardens, as well as the engineers who achieved the hydraulic system that, still today, feeds the fountains with water. René Fremin, Jean Thierry and Jacques Bousseau were the sculptors who fed that fountains with life. The results were so nice that all the Spanish Bourbons until Alfonso XIII (the grandfather of our current king Juan Carlos I) have spent their summers at La Granja.

The palace is placed around one hour of driving from Madrid city, on the North side of the mountain pass of Navacerrada. If you like nature, you will enjoy great and beautiful pine forests before reaching the palace, so that you will spend the full journey. In other case, you can combine the visits to Segovia and La Granja in a single journey. La Granja is placed 1200 meters over the sea level and may be a very cold place from December to March. Summer and fall (June to October) are the best seasons. Coming on weekend from June to September will give you an opportunity to watch a nice water show involving the fountains shown in the pictures. It begins 5PM o'clock Saturdays and Sundays. Enjoy it.

P.S. To see more about the palace, go to the article entitled "La Granja (Segovia)", by David Serrano.