One of the most well-known medieval castles in the world and a popular tourist destination in Spain is the Alcázar of Segovia, which was built in the first half of the 12th century. Its rooms have seen some of history's most notable people as well as twenty-two kings.

Its massive shape dominates the Eresma valley and is a representation of Segovia's Old Town, which was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

Its design recalls the grandeur of the Court throughout the Middle Ages, and its walls have witnessed battles, palace intrigues, royal marriages, and other incredible occurrences. It is the palace and fortress of the Kings of Castile. The Alcázar has served as a Roman castle, a medieval fortress, a royal palace, the guardian of the royal treasury, a state jail, the Royal Artillery College, and the General Military Archive over the course of its 2,000-year history.

Although the Alcázar, which is only Arabic in name, has a history that begins with the Reconquista and whose development parallels that of the castle, albeit with significant later remodeling, the fortification has Roman foundations and is likely the ruins of an ancient castro. It is one of the most notable examples of a military fortress and a unique case in the history of Spanish and European architecture. The Alcázar of Segovia is a castle and royal palace, as its name indicates: "alcáçar," with which it is already known in 1135, reigning Alfonso VII the emperor. Philip II ordered a slate roof, making it the "most European" castle on the peninsula.

It was used by Orson Welles in Chimes at Midnight, and it is widely accepted that Walt Disney took design cues from it for his castle in the 1937 movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

The Alcázar is "the perfect model of the fantastic castles described in his travel romances by the ingenious troubadours who wandered through all the regions in search of the lady worthy, for her perfections, to occupy their thoughts and enamour their hearts, to sing their troves and play their zithers at the foot of the walled enclosure where she was enclosed," wrote Artillery Colonel Eduardo de Oliver-Copóns in 1916.