Alcazar

Alcazar, Alcázar (Spanish), Alcácer (Portuguese), Alcàsser (Catalan), are all transliterations of the Arabic word al qasr (القصر), meaning "the castle", "palace" or "fortress".^[1] It may refer to:

Architecture

• Alcázar, a type of palace or fortress in Spain, and sometimes in Portugal and Latin America:
  • Alcázar of Segovia, in Castile and León, Spain
  • Alcázar of Toledo, in Castile-La Mancha, Spain
  • Alcázar of Jerez de la Frontera, in Andalusia, Spain
  • Alcázar of Salamanca, in Castile and León, Spain
  • Alcázar of Guadalajara, in Castile-La Mancha, Spain
  • Alcázar of Madrid, Spain
  • Alcázar of Seville, in Andalusia, Spain
  • Alcázar Genil (or Alcázar of Granada), in Andalusia, Spain
  • Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos (or Alcázar of Córdoba), in Andalusia, Spain
  • Castle of Burgos, formerly an Alcázar
  • Alcázar of Úbeda, Jaén, in Andalusia, Spain
  • Alcázar de Don Diego Colón, former residence of Christopher Columbus's son Diego in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
  • Castle Alcázar of Segorbe, disappeared.
  • Alcázar de Plasencia, was demolished.
  • Alcázar Real de Ciudad Real, disappeared.

Places

Argentina

• El Alcázar, village in Misiones Province

Portugal

• Alcácer do Sal, a city in Setúbal

Spain

• Alcázar de San Juan, municipality in the province of Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha
• Alcázar del Rey, municipality in the province of Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha
• Alcàsser (Spanish: Alcácer), a town in Valencia

Landmarks

Landmarks not related to Spain

• Alcazar Hotel (disambiguation), historic hotels in Canada and the United States
• Alcazar (Paris) (or Alcazar d'Hiver), a Café-concert located in the Rue du Faubourg Poissonière, Paris
• Alcazar d'Été, a Café-concert located in the Champs-Élysées, Paris

People

• Paco Alcácer, Spanish footballer

Airline

• Alcazar (airline), A proposal to merge Austrian Airlines, KLM, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) and Swissair

Comics

• General Alcazar, a fictional character from The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé
• Roberto Alcázar y Pedrín, a Spanish comic strip from the Franco era

Bands

• Alcazar (band), a Swedish europop/dance music group

Video games

• Alcazar: The Forgotten Fortress, a 1985 video game by Tom Loughry released for the ColecoVision console and home computers

The game starts with a map on which you move along paths to the various castles in Moorish Spain.

Wars

• Siege of the Alcázar of Toledo, in the Spanish Civil War
  • El Alcázar, name derived from the above - a newspaper that expressed the views of the búnker, the extreme right that opposed any democratization, during the Spanish transition to democracy

Cognate names

• Alcocer (derives from a diminutive of alcázar), a municipality in Castile-La Mancha, Spain
• Alcocer de Planes (Valencian: Alcosser de Planes), a municipality in Valencia, Spain
• Alcossebre, a town located in the municipality of Alcalà de Xivert, in Valencia, Spain
• Alcazarquivir is the Spanish name of Ksar el-Kebir, location of the battle of Al Kasr al Kebir
• Alcácer-Quibir is the Portuguese name of Kasr el-Kebir, location of the battle of Al Kasr al Kebir

See also

• Alcazar Hotel
• Alcazaba (in Spanish), Portuguese: Alcaçova, Catalan: Alcassaba, from Arabic al-qaṣbah (القصبة), meaning "the walled-fortification (or citadel)"
• Alcalá (also Alcala or Alcalà), from Arabic al qal'a (القلعة) meaning "the citadel (or fortification)"
• Alcantara (Alcántara, Alcântara, Alcàntara, Alcàntera, El-Qantarah, El Kantara), from Arabic al qantara (القنطرة), meaning "the bridge"

References

1. Ruth Walker (22 September 2006). "A wordsmith's holiday". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 11 September 2013.