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Segovia is a city in Spain, the capital of the province of Segovia in Castile-Leon. It is situated about an hour north of Madrid, at 40°57′N 4°10′W. 54,945 people live in the municipality of Segovia.
Under Moorish rule, the city was called Šiqūbiyyah (Arabic شقوبية).
The old city is spectacularly situated atop a long, narrow promontory. It contains a wealth of monuments, including the cathedral, a famous ancient Roman aqueduct, the Alcázar, and various churches built in the Romanesque style including San Esteban, San Martin, and San Millan. The old city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Alcázar, or castle-palace, is perched at the tip of the promontory and towering over the countryside below. Its fairy-tale spires and facade influenced stongly Walt Disney's design of the castle in Sleeping Beauty which has been adopted as the logo of the Disney Corporation. It was built in the 12th century. During the Middle Ages, the Alcazar of Segovia was the favourite residence of kings of Castile, and almost each king added new parts to the building, transforming the original fortress into a courtier residence and prolonging the construction of the castle till 16th century, when King Philip II added the conical spires and the slate roofs. A fire in 1862 destroyed part of the roofs (and only part of the roofs), but they were restored, in the very same style they were built more than 300 years ago.
The aqueduct that stands at the entrance of the historic section of Segovia was built at the end of 1st to early 2nd century AD by the Romans during their occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. The aqueduct has become a symbol of the city. It was originally constructed in order to bring water from the Frio River to the city about 18km away, which required it to stretch from the Sierra de Guadarrama to the walls of the old town. Its main part consists of 166 arches, supported by 120 pillars, which cover a distance of 1km (0.6mi). It is made of 20,400 large, rough-hewn granite blocks, joined without mortar or clamps. Its maximum height of 28.1m (100.53ft) is found at the plaza of Azoguejo. A raised section of stonework in the center once had an inscription. Today only the holes for the bronze letters survive.
The Cathedral of Segovia stands in the city's central plaza. Constructed by architect Juan Gil de Hontanon in the late Gothic style between 1522 and 1577, it is widely considered Europe's last great Gothic cathedral.
Owing to these famous monuments, Segovia is a very popular tourist destination, especially as a day-trip from Madrid.
