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The Toledo Gate in Ciudad Real , Spain . an Applied Case Study of the Seville Charter
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Vidal, Ana Almagro Merino, José Luis Ramírez, Ildefonso Añorve Gonzålez |
| Copyright Year | 2011 |
| Abstract | In 2009, an agreement between the Town Hall of Ciudad Real and the Caja Madrid Foundation permitted the start of preliminary studies at the Toledo Gate, the last remains of the city walls, in order to document, analyze and evaluate the pathologies affecting the fabric throughout time and to carry out the archaeological excavation of the remains preserved in the area. As a result of this excavation several construction elements were brought to light and permitted to verify their role within the gate and the rest of the walls when compared with the existing archival information. At the same time, as a usual part of the intervention methodology of the Caja Madrid Foundation, communication and dissemination actions were promoted. In this case the virtual reconstruction of the gate and the whole city walls was considered as a fundamental part of this campaign in order to raise awareness among the citizens towards a monument that has remained in the shadow for the last century. This paper, thus, seeks to highlight how the principles of the Seville Charter have been used as main guidelines during the virtual reconstruction process that followed the archaeological excavation, to guarantee the scientific rigor, criteria and transmission to the public that should lead to a process of historical and cultural value for society. 1. PREFACE The Seville Charter document, recently approved in the city that provided it with its name, outlines the principles of archaeological virtual reconstruction. In these terms, the aims defined by the Charter are aligned with those of the Caja Madrid Foundation, applied in the restoration projects promoted by this non-profit institution all over Spain. That is to say, the methodology principles, the criteria and the rigor followed in the so called “Cultural Restoration Projects” carried out by this foundation, can be perfectly identified and matched with the ideas highlighted as fundamental basis by the Charter of Virtual Archaeology. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to explain and demonstrate how one of this projects, the restoration of the Toledo Gate in Ciudad Real (Spain), is currently following the principles of the Charter in its different phases, specifically in the virtual reconstruction of the monument. This project, at the time that this paper is presented, is still ongoing, so it is foreseen that further developments in the historical, artistic and constructive knowledge of the monument may happen, thanks to the research and work of the multidisciplinary team. This paper, thus, will highlight only the results obtained up to the present time. 1 This Charter was officially approved during the III International Congress Arqueologica 2.0, held in Seville (Spain) in June 2011. 2. THE TOLEDO GATE IN CIUDAD REAL, AN APPLIED CASE STUDY FOR THE SEVILLE CHARTER The Toledo Gate in Ciudad Real is the only existing remains of the city walls that surrounded the urban medieval settlement of the 13 century, created by royal order of Alfonso the 11, King of Castille. At the beginning of the 20 century these walls were demolished for the most part, in order to permit the city to grow without the physical barrier of the walls. This action left the Toledo Gate as a completely disconnected element now used as a roundabout to regulate traffic at one of the main entrance points to the city (Figure 1). Figure 1. The Toledo Gate and the city walls at the beginning of the 20 century and nowadays as a roundabout In 2009, as a result of an agreement with the City Town Hall to restore the gate and improve the urban surroundings of the monument, the Caja Madrid Foundation started a series of preliminary studies and works in order to set the main objectives of the project. In this regard, the excavation of the gate surroundings and the terrace of the monument were considered essential. At the same time, the excavation had to be supported by a historical and archival research that provided information about important historical and constructive facts, later ratified through the results of the excavation. Chemical analysis of the stone and mortars as well as a series of salt and humidity cartographies were also key studies to determine the level of decay of the historic fabrics and the need and level of intervention that would be necessary during the project. Contemporarily, dissemination and awareness actions were considered crucial in order to increase the response of society towards a cultural heritage that had been completely isolated and neglected. So, in this regard, a virtual reconstruction of the gate was commissioned and developed by Balawat, a specialized 3D model and multimedia company. The purpose of this model was to be the vehicle for all the data that the different studies would provide throughout the project duration so as to transmit all this information to the public and start creating consciousness and awareness among the citizens and tourists towards the importance of preserving and knowing the archaeological remains of the city. 3. COORDINATING AN INTERDISCIPLINARY WORKING TEAM It was important to create from the very beginning a multidisciplinary team of experts that could interact providing feedback to the project (archaeologists, architects, historians, restorers, geologists, chemists, IT experts, designers, 3D modelers, and others). A key issue was to ensure interaction between them during the process, as this actually permitted everybody to share information, provide different points of view, exchange ideas, promote discussion, seek for solutions between the different experts and to make final decisions according to the discussions. The coordination of these technical sessions was lead by the Caja Madrid Foundation, and they would usually take place every few weeks according to the development of the different studies, ensuring the interdisciplinary principle defended by the Charter, which certainly has helped to provide a scientific and rigorous approach to the project (figure 2). Figure 2. Informative panel displayed on site with the reconstruction model of the Toledo Gate in the 17 century emphasizing the multidisciplinary team that has been in charge of the different studies 4. THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION, BASIS FOR THE VIRTUAL RECONSTRUCTION The most important preliminary study was the archaeological excavation of the gate, as well as the surroundings and the roof, in order to provide clues about the ancient construction, the function, the urban development around the gate, the relationship between the gate itself, the towers, and parts of the walls demolished in the early 50’s of the past century. The Archeological interventions taken place in the surroundings of the Toledo Gate uncovered a series of structures and stratigraphic deposits that have provided an approach of the sequence of historical events, of this defense, related to the fight for the reign since Alonso the 10 until present times. From an evaluative point of view, structures are differentiated with industrial ethnographic importance (Phase III) and structures of historical value, belonging to the medieval stages (Stages Ia and Ib) and modern (Phase II). Related to the ethnographic assets, emphasis was placed on the remains of the Charcas del Arrogante (Arrogante’s pools), whose existence has been attested in several documentary sources. They are located in the outside area of the Wall and Gate, attached to the East and West canvases. It refers to two rectangular structures formed by a surrounding low masonry wall of 30 centimeters tall and a quartzite pavement. The two pools were connected by a ceramic pipe that maintained the same water level between them. It was located at the lower level of the different contemporary transit floors of the Gate. The main role of Charcas del Arrogante was to store in winter a daily thin sheet of water to obtain ice that was transported to the snow wells in the city for preservation and later marketing. These structures were redeemed in last century’s late twenties, during the execution of the project to remodel the Gate. The objective of the project was to improve the traffic surrounding the Toledo Gate, and to end with the damage and alterations caused by humidity in the monument. In the indoor area, discoveries were highlighted of several levels of chronological pavements and the remaining of the foundations of the fielato, construction that was attached to the East side of The Gate. The structures of historical and archeological relevance belong to the sections of the basement of the ancient wall built during the reign of Alfonso X El Sabio, after the foundation of the Ciudad Real (Royal City). (Phase Ia). It refers to rough stone foundations formed by large carved stones joined with high strength mortar. During the reign of Alfonso XI, it takes place a remodeling of this sector of the Gate, in order to build a larger and more monumental new one (Phase Ib). To this stage belong the foundations of the Toledo Gate, in part discovered during the excavation. While doing this project, both the possible previous Gate and parts of the Wall, were demolish in order to attach the actual Toledo Gate. 2 The fielato were offices located in the population’s access to control the entries of goods and charge the corresponding consumers rights. In order to give more consistency and monumentality, two pieces of Wall were built on both sides of the Toledo Gate, joined to the old mud wall. The remaining of these pieces of masonry and lime, after being restores in several occasions, still are standing. In contrast, the pieces of mud wall were demolished at the end of the second decade of the twentieth century during the execution of the before mentioned project, except for the basements, which remained hidden until our intervention. On the other hand, the leveling layer of the superior floor of the Gate has been manually excavated. The separation of this material, has led us to disti |
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| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
