Planimetry of the Monumental of Jaén Kingdom´s “Caudillos” Located
in Santisteban del Puerto

Antonio Sánchez-González

antonio.sanchez@dhis2.uhu.es http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5025-455X

Departamento de Historia, Geografía y Antropología.
Facultad de Humanidades. Universidad de Huelva.
Avda. Tres de Marzo, s/n. 21007 - Huelva.

KEYWORDS

Monument planimetry

Santisteban del Puerto

San Esteban Castle

Ducal palace

Convent of San Francisco

Caudillos of the Kingdom of Jaén

Ducal Archive of Medinaceli

The Ducal Archive of Medinaceli hosts an interesting collection of maps and plans which has recently been catalogued by a team of specialists during the completion of an I+D research project (HAR-2013-4500-P).

In the collection there is a set of plans associated with the Casa de Santisteban del Puerto, the so-called Caudillos Mayores (main chieftains) of the Kingdom of Jaén. These deal with the demarcation of the territorial boundaries of Santisteban del Puerto (Jaén) in relation to its older limits to the close city of Baeza. There are also plans of the different rural properties of the Counts and Dukes of Santisteban such as the Mill of El Salido, The Dehesa of Cristalinas, the Farmhouse of El Villar, or the Farm of La Alameda. In this paper, nonetheless, we will be focusing on the most relevant properties in this city: the famous Castle of San Esteban, the Ducal Palace and the Monastery of San Francisco.

The purpose of our research is that of analyzing some of the architectural projects, interventions or alterations made on those building –as detailed in the conserved plans by the owning Dukes–, as well as addressing inaccuracies on the plans published in 2017 in the referred catalogue with the collection of maps and plans of the Ducal Archive of Medicaneli. Our research is based on a descriptive methodology on the main urban-planimetric typological characteristics of historical cities, as the case of Santisteban del Puerto. This methodology has already been addressed by specialists such as J. Burgueño (2001), J. Calatrava y M. Ruiz Morales (2005), J. Ortega Vidal (2000), R. Kagan (1986), M. Galera (1998), J. Hardoy (1991) or A. Gámiz (1999) among others. Moreover, our methodology is based on studies about architectural interventionism on historical buildings by various authors.

Our working procedure is the result of an analytic-descriptive process based on the observation and analysis of the information comprised in the plans subject of study. This information is later on collated and complemented with historical documentation under the premises of a systemic approach. For that we have dipped into a planimetric revision and manorial documents which correspond to plans and projects in order to make a reflection about the urban-architectonic historical evolution of these buildings.

Our article first deals with a plan signed by Alonso García and which dates from around 1780. It is a project of the partial remodeling of the medieval fortress of Santisteban del Puerto, located at a 820 meters height on the plateau of San Esteban –from where it takes its name the first residence of the Counts and Dukes of the territory. The plan of this citadel, which had been partially adapted as a palace by its noble dwellers, shows the plant and elevation as it was in the castle-palace during those times, with a distribution of spaces designed into what clearly can be accounted as the counting house and the mayor’s house (with facilities such as hallway, chamber, room, kitchen, etc.) plus some other administrative spaces of the castle (with another hallway, room, chamber, kitchen, dining-room, etc.). The office and another room were emplaced on a side of the turret, and the stables together with the farmyard were emplaced on the backside of the building.

The second object of our study is a plan of the new Palace built in the Modern Age in the lowest area of the same territory, close to the front side of the Main Square. The design is signed by Antonio Briones, around 1780, and it represents the plant in color and the elevation of the palace with all the offices. The plan shows a two floor stone building with rectangular floor and the façade with a balcony on the left. Inside, on the left side there was a counting house and, on the opposite side, a turret with an office on the lowest floor could be found. Other palatial rooms were the main room, an office, several bedrooms, kitchen, stove, a small inner yard, the stables and the shed. On the right side of the building there was a garden –quite possibly in two levels, where there was an arbor and a bay window.

The following two plans also date from the end of the 18th century; however, they refer to a penitentiary center, a courtroom, and to the Santisteban sheriff’ house. The first one is signed by Alonso García himself, who carried out the project of a partial remodeling of the fortress’ palace. The building presents a rectangular floor with underground guardroom, courtroom with its own cells, chamber and pen –apart from dining room, kitchen, stable and another pen at the back of the building. The elevation repeats the same arrangement as the façade of the castle.

The second project for the penitentiary center was carried out by the master builder Diego Rodríguez in October 1787. It represents both a roomy, open and regular jail and warden’s house. The building is arranged taking into account a square yard around which the town halls are emplaced with independent access from the main square. On the right wing are the prison area, the cells and the courtroom. On the opposite wing are the office, the chamber, the law court and the dressing table. At the back was the warden’s house, his chamber, the pen, and the harness room.

Finally, the last two plans of our research relate to projects of alteration and improvement of the Monastery of San Francisco, founded in the 15th century in the territories of Santisteban del Puerto as requested by Lord Día Sánchez de Benavides. The place threatened to collapse over the course of centuries despite its being the common burial site of the Benavides, Counts and Dukes of the territory. The Franciscan monastery had entered into a progressive state of abandonment and, by the 18th century, it was about to fall down. Hence, these projects for its improvement by the end of that century, which represent the plant and the elevation of two sections of the building.

The first design represents the plant and elevation of the so-called “new room” of the monastery. The plant is simple, divided into six rectangular, similar rooms which are not identified on the plan. The elevation presents two segments with a horizontal projection whose division is marked by a long balustrade. In some intermediate spaces of the second floor, several heraldry escutcheons can be found.

The second design represents the elevation of the “room from the side facing north”. On it, the place of the church, the yard, the infirmary and other monastical rooms are pointed out. The elevation shows two horizontal bodies with no articulation as it corresponds to the popular Baroque architecture of the time. The design identifies in a different color the already built part of the building in relation to the new planned building.

The final outcome of our research not only meets the proposed goals but also provides the opportunity to make a reflection about the importance of drawing in the world of architecture, especially in buildings that no longer exist as the ones dealt here. Besides, it is worthy as long as the research rectifies some imprecisions concerning the catalogue of maps and plans of The Ducal Archive of Medinaceli, published by the University of Huelva, in order to reach a better understanding of this artistic planimetry.

Planimetry of the Monumental of Jaén Kingdom´s “Caudillos” Locatedin Santisteban del Puerto

Planimetry of the Monumental of Jaén Kingdom´s “Caudillos” Located
in Santisteban del Puerto