Fortress and the City. 29 scale models

Fortress and the city Exhibitions

What do the siege of Zaragoza, the vessel Juan Sebastián Elcano, eighteen hundreds Barcelona and the ports of Nueva España have in common? These and many other milestones of Spanish history and geography are depicted in the historic mock-ups comprising the exhibition Fortress and the City, 29 scale models on display at Madrid’s Centro Conde Duque.

Organised by Fundación Juanelo Turriano, this showing focuses on the various types of fortresses, from Medieval castles and walls with their monumental towers and gates to the Enlightenment’s bastioned forts. Built under the protection of the respective urban gods, they are all crowned with walls.

Although many fortresses were demolished in the nineteenth century, their mock-ups, along with the superb architectural and artistic drawings also on display, bear witness to their splendour.

The mock-ups exhibited were lent by one French and eleven Spanish institutions. Most were restored for this showing, some in depth, favouring the recovery of the original drawings, the rediscovery of their forgotten features and the correction of a few errors.

In the exhibition’s generously illustrated catalogue, fact sheets on all the mock-ups by 14 authors supplement the background text by Pedro Navascués, one of the curators.

The exhibition is open to the general public, cost-free.

 

 

Technical data

• Curator: Pedro Navascués Palacio, Bernardo Revuelta Pol
• Coordinator:  Begoña Sánchez-Aparicio García
• Editing director and designer: Bernardo Revuelta Pol

 

 

 

Bibliographic data sheet (In Spanish)

 

 

Download brochure (In Spanish)