Producer Luis Álvarez, Santiago Segura (with minimal participation) and José Mota are some of the names behind the purchase of the Pedraza castle (Segovia), where they want to develop a cultural project.
As it has advanced this Wednesday The confidential According to sources close to the investors, this is an acquisition in the name of Teatropolis, the company owned by Álvarez that manages the Gran Teatro CaixaBank Príncipe Pío and in which Segura and Mota also participate.
The purchase of the castle in Pedraza de la Sierra has been completed for 4.8 million euros, which is the figure at which the fortress was valued, offered since the beginning of this year by a luxury real estate agency.
The sellers were descendants of the painter Ignacio Zuloaga, who bought it in 1925 for 13,000 pesetas.
History of the castle
The castle, dating back to the 13th century, at the height of the Reconquista’s advance towards the south of the peninsula, is part of the historical and artistic complex that the Junta de Castilla y León has protected since 1983 with its declaration as a Site of Cultural Interest (BIC), sources from the regional administration informed EFE on Wednesday.
Pedraza Castle
The fortified enclosure has a built area of about 650 square metres, but it has a total surface area of 50,000 metres if we add the buildings and surrounding land, such as the esplanade which, from a small hill, dominates the historic and tourist town of Pedraza, between the Guadarrama and Somosierra mountain ranges.
The 15th century keep is joined by two towers that were renovated in the 16th century by the Fernández de Velasco family, constables of Castile, until they achieved the structure and layout that has survived to this day, although the painter Ignacio Zuloaga (1870-1945) retouched one of them to install his workshop when he bought it in 1925.
That workshop was converted into the Zuloaga Museum and the other tower was converted into the residence of the penultimate owner, María Rosa Suárez-Zuoaga, granddaughter and heiress of the painter, who died in Madrid in 2021, so the building passed into the hands of the next generation of the family.
Tourist use
The fortress and its esplanade have been used in recent years as a venue for social events, including weddings, due to its large capacity and adequate and well-equipped facilities.
In addition to recreations in its surroundings, it has been used for the celebration of other activities such as medieval tournaments, with period clothing and weapons, but its main use has been tourism, mainly linked to the memory and career of Ignacio Zuloaga.
His connection with Segovia dates back at least to 1898 when his uncle, the ceramist Daniel Zuloaga, called him to work in the workshop/kiln that the former opened in the decommissioned church of San Juan de los Caballeros, now also the Zuloaga Museum.
The nephew, whose portrait with a beret and penetrating gaze popularized the old blue 500 peseta notes since 1954, had a workshop in Madrid, near Las Vistillas, where he died in 1945, but his devotion to Segovia prompted him to buy the Pedraza castle.
The property has now been sold through the real estate agency Sotheby’s International Realty, acquired by the Teatropolis company, which also owns the CaixaBank Príncipe Pío theatre in the Spanish capital.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.es
