The earliest specimens of post-Moorish architecture in Toledo partake more or less of the character of fortifications. For many years, as we have seen, after the Reconquest the Christians’ hold upon the city was precarious, and the first efforts of the Castilian kings was naturally towards strengthening its defences. The history of the walls of Toledo is obscure and confused; but it seems certain that a wall has always extended within historic times across the northern side of the loop formed by the river. The Conqueror Alfonso VI. strengthened and added to this defence by the erection of the newer or outer wall, inclosing the suburb or Arrabal del Antequeruela. He also appears to have restored the inner or Moorish wall, and has left traces on the magnificent Puerta del Sol, a Moorish work which must have been quite new in his day. Indeed, it may possibly have been built by Moorish masons after the Reconquest. It is a noble and impressive portal to the grand old city, and most powerfully impresses the beholder. Quadrado will have it that so dignified a monument can have been the work only of a ruling race, in the days of its liberty and glory; it could not have been the mere afterglow of the ascendency and taste of a nation now subjugated. We may, however, be permitted to doubt whether the political decadence of a people becomes _instantly_ manifested in its artistic life. The gateway forms a high tower with two flanking turrets, one square and abutting on the wall, the other rounded and finishing off the _enceinte_. The portal is composed of a succession of four arches, all being of the horseshoe shape, though the outer arches are more pointed than the inner ones. Above the outermost arch is a double row of arcades of brickwork, the arches intersecting. Over the second arch is a circular medallion in relief, representing the Virgin offering the chasuble to St. Ildefonsus. Another relief in marble is supposed to represent the summary punishment of Fernan Gonzalez by St. Ferdinand, for the seduction of two young women. The battlements are of a type common enough in Spanish Christian architecture, but which Mr. Street thinks was derived originally from the Moors. Another writer, Mr. O’Shea, remarks: “This gate with its warm orange tints, that contrast so admirably with the lapis-lazuli azure of the cloudless sky, its battlement fringing the top, and opening vistas of most novel aspect, is a treasure for an artist.” The exceeding quaintness and majesty of this gateway have moved many writers to express themselves almost too rapturously. Toledo’s other gates--the Puerta Nueva de Visagra and the Puerta del Cambrón--date from a much later period.