Alcalá de Henares, Spain, and its University

ALCALA DE HENARES AND ITS UNIVERSITY (Spain)

22 miles NE of Madrid, Alcalá de Henares is the hometown of Cervantes. In its Historic Precinct stands the refounded (in 1977) University of Alcalá, which dates to the 13th century. Some of its buildings were once part of the equally-old Complutense University, which relocated to Madrid in 1836. Alcalá itself was founded in Roman times, and was once a Muslim citadel of al-Andalus.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

La Sagrada Familia

LA SAGRADA FAMILIA (Barcelona, Spain)

Construction began on the still-unfinished Basilica of the Sacred Family under another architect in Barcelona in 1882, but the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) took over the next year. It was only a quarter complete at his death; he is buried in its crypt. Building proceeded in fits and starts, and though consecrated in 2010, completion is not expected until after 2026.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

The Alhambra

THE ALHAMBRA (Granada, Andalusia, Spain)

This Spanish palace/fortress's name is Arabic for "The Red One." Begun in 1238 by a Muslim emir, it sits on the site of earlier fortresses on an outcrop of the Sierra Nevada in Granada, Andalusia. It has been continuously modified; after the Christians retook Spain in 1492, it became the Royal Court of Ferdinand and Isabella, where they received Christopher Columbus.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)