Aranjuez Cultural Landscape
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How it came to be
In 1523 Charles I took possession of Aranjuez, on the Tagus and Jarama rivers, as a spring hunting ground. In 1561 Philip II set aside land north of the Tagus for kitchen gardens and farming, and on the south bank a palace was begun to designs by Juan Bautista de Toledo and later Juan de Herrera, the architect of El Escorial.
Work stopped when Philip II died in 1598, but Philip V took it up again in 1700, aiming to rival Versailles. After a fire in 1748 Ferdinand VI rebuilt the palace. Gardens such as the King's, the Island and the Prince's gardens, tree-lined avenues and an 18th-century town spread around it.
In March 1808 the Mutiny of Aranjuez forced Charles IV to abdicate in favour of his son Ferdinand VII. The palace was declared a historic monument and opened to the public in 1931. The cultural landscape was inscribed in 2001.
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