CHAPTER III.CIVIL ARCHITECTURE.

CONTENTS.

Monastic Buildings—Municipal Buildings—Castles.

Asalready mentioned, to most of the great churches described above there were attached monastic establishments on a scale commensurate with them in dignity, and ornamented in an equal degree. Most of these, too, had chapter-houses, generally square vaulted apartments, not equal in originality or magnificence with those of England, but very superior to anything found in France. The most ornamental part of these is generally the screen of triple arches by which they open on the cloister. Internally they are now generally plain, but they may have been adorned with wooden stalls and furniture, which have since disappeared.

964. Cloister of the Huelgas, near Burgos. (From Villa Amil.)

More important than these are the cloisters to which they were attached—thepatioof the convent, which in such a climate as that of Spain was an indispensable adjunct, and much more appropriate than a covered arcade ever was or could be in our northern climate. TheSpanish architects seem, in consequence, to have revelled in the designs of their cloisters, and from the simple arcade of Gerona (1117) to the exuberant caprice of San Juan de los Reyes, they form a series of examples completely illustrative of the progress of Spanish art: perhaps more so than even the churches to which they are attached. Some of the cloisters have octagonal projections with lavatories.

The favourite form of the earlier examples, like those in the South of France (Woodcut No.559), is that of an open arcade supported on coupled columns, on the capitals of which the architects delighted to lavish all their powers of variety and design. That at the convent of the Huelgas (Woodcut No.964) gives a fair idea of the mode in which they are carried out, and is certainly far more appropriate than the traceried arches of Northern examples, which, without glazing, are most unmeaning. During the 14th and 15th centuries the Spaniards adopted them, and some of the best specimens of their traceries are to be found in the cloister arcades. Having gone so far, however, they went on, and carried the idea to its legitimate conclusion by filling up the whole opening with a screen of pierced tracery. The most complete example of this style is that found at Tarazona in Aragon. The cloister itself is in brick, but not even plastered; the openings are filled with stone slabs pierced with the most varied and elegant Gothic tracery. It would seem a more reasonable plan to have used stone for the structure and terra-cotta for the openings; but as it is, the effect of the whole is extremely pleasing. It is, however, more like an Oriental than an European design, and reveals as clearly as the churches of Toledo the continued presence of the Moor in the land of Spain.

965. Cloister, Tarazona. (From Street.)

966. The Casa Lonja, Valencia. (From Street.)

Spain does not seem to have possessed, during the Middle Ages, any municipalities of sufficient importance to require buildings of an important or permanent character for their accommodation. There are, it is true, one or two Lonjas, or places for the assembly of merchants, which are of some magnificence. But these were erected on the very verge of the Renaissance, and betray all the feebleness ofan expiring style. That at Valencia is, perhaps, the best example. Internally it has twisted fluted columns similar to those at Villena[140](Woodcut No.956). The two buildings are said to have been designed by the same architect, but the columns in this instance are much more attenuated than in the church. The exterior has at least the merit of expressing the internal arrangements. On one side of the central tower is the great hall, on the other the public rooms, and above these an upper storey with an open arcade. The last is a feature very frequently found in Spain, not only in Mediæval palaces, but in those of the Renaissance period, and wherever it exists it is one of the most pleasing that can be found; it gives all the shadow of a cornice, without its inconvenient and useless projection, and crowns the whole design in an appropriate and pleasing manner.

967. Castle of Cocos, Castille. (From Villa Amil.)

One example must suffice to recall attention to the fact of the existence of “Chateaux en Espagne.” On the plains of Castille they are not only numerous, but of great magnificence; erected apparently before the fear of inroads from the Moors of Granada had passed away, or at all event when a military aristocracy was indispensable to save the nation from reconquest by these dreaded enemies. Ofthese the Kasr at Segovia is one of the best known and most frequently drawn. It has the advantage of being still inhabited, and its turrets retained, till recently, their tall conical roofs, which gave it so peculiar and local an aspect.[141]It also possesses the advantage—rare in Spanish castles—of standing on the edge of a tall rock, to which it has been fitted with almost Oriental taste.

Another favourable specimen is the now ruined castle of Cocos. Its tall towers and clustering turrets still attest its former magnificence, and point to a local style of defensive architecture differing from that of any other part of Europe, but even more picturesque than the best examples of either France or England. The castle at Olite is still more local in its style. Many other examples might be quoted; but they hardly belong to the fine-art branch of Architecture, and thus scarcely come within the scope of this work, though a monograph of the military architecture of Spain during the Middle Ages would be almost as interesting as that of her ecclesiastical remains.

Back to Index Next