Emma Maglio

Associate Professor in Architectural History at the Department of Architecture “Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II”.

Naples, Italy.

Title

Nuovi documenti per la conoscenza delle fortezze delle isole di Candia e Cipro (XVI sec.)

Abstract

The islands of Candia and Cyprus were key territories of the Venetian Stato da Mar for centuries. Starting from the middle of the sixteenth century, to counter the ever-closer Ottoman threat, in both islands Venice implemented a deep renewal of the defensive system thanks to the contribution of military engineers sent from Venice. After the loss of Cyprus in 1571, Candia became an advanced bulwark against the Ottomans, therefore works on the fortifications intensified and lasted until the seventeenth century. Behind the actual building activity there was an intense work of census, drawing, and survey that comes to light in a fragmentary way from official reports, correspondence, and iconographic sources. This paper intends to focus on the state of the islands’ urban and rural defences during the crucial period of the second half of the sixteenth century by considering two unpublished documents from the Archivio proprio di Giacomo Contarini kept at the Archivio di Stato of Venice: it is about a list of the fortresses of Candia by Soffiano Eudemonogiani, and the so-called “Avertimenti circa il fortificare” dealing with the fortresses of Cyprus and Candia. Both documents testify to the interest and concern of the Venetian government for its eastern Mediterranean fortresses in view of an Ottoman assault.

Antonio Orihuela Uzal

“Profesor de investigación” at “Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas – Escuela de Estudios Árabes” specialized in Islamic architecture, Islamic urbanism, and historical buildings restoration. Granada, Spain.

Title

Estudio comparativo de la restauración de ocho “Fuertes con Batería para cuatro cañones”, construidos durante el reinado de Carlos III en el antiguo Reino de Granada

Abstract

In 1764, during the reign of Carlos III, it was agreed to improve the defense of the coast of the old Kingdom of Granada with new fortifications. One of the four types designed by the engineer José de Crame was the ‘Fort with Battery for four cannons’, of which eight are still preserved. As the original type project is known, you can see the differences in materials, construction techniques and design details, produced by the diversity of promoters in charge of its construction, the different master builders and the local materials. During the last four decades they have been restored with various criteria, uses and results, according to projects elaborated by eight different teams of architects. It is proposed to compare the criteria applied in the recovery of their original values (spatial, defensive, constructive, documentary, etc.), the reconstruction of disappeared elements, the compatibility of the buildings to adapt to new uses, the difficulty to achieve the conservation of the patinas of their walls and their historical graffiti, etc. Also, the conceptual dilemma between the will to leave the contemporary footprint of the architects in charge of the restoration or to try to show what these fortifications were like when they were built, although respecting the valuable historical contributions produced during their two and a half centuries of life.