MUSEUM SPACES OF

THE FORTIFIED

PRECINCTS OF THE

RANAISSANCE CITY OF

MELILLA

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MUSEUM SPACES OF

THE FORTIFIED

PRECINCTS OF THE

RANAISSANCE CITY OF

MELILLA

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THEMATIC INDEX Fortified Precincts. 06

Gateway of La Marina. 08

The Water Storage Tanks. 10

Santa Ana Tunnel. 12

Chapel of Santiago. 13

Santa Ana Doorway. 14

Moat and Santiago Doorway. 16

Plaza de Armas (Place of arms). 18

King’s Hospital. 20

Caves of Conventico. 22

El Conventico. 23

Church of la Concepción. 24

The Installation Directory 27

FORTIFIED PRECINCTS OF MELILLA

1 Victoria’s Forts

2 The Culturas Square 3 Saint Miguel's Fort 4 Saint Carlos Fort 5 Fortress (Citadel) 6 Mantelete 7 Carneros' Moat 8 Saint Fernando Tunnel 9 Hornabeque Moat

11 Saint Fernando Barracks

12 The Bastion of Saint Fernando

13 Outer Wall (Falsa Braga) 14 Victoria's Tunnel 15 Weapons Square 16 Real Wall 17 Handsaw of Teeth 18 Prisons 19 Santiago's Moat 20 Santiago's Door and Chapel

21 Santa Ana Door

22 Saint Miguel's Street

23 Saint Miguel's Street

24 Concepción Church

25 Concepción Bulwark

26 The Cove of Trápana 27 King's Hospital 28 Lighthouse of Melilla la Vieja 29 Florentine Costs

30 Drive – Parking Zones

31 Saint Juan Storerooms 32 Gateway of La Marina

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FORTIFIED PRECINCTS OF MELILLA

“Melilla la Vieja” or the Town has four fortified precincts separated

by moats, doorways and drawbridges. The Fourth and the Third precinct

are still being restored while the Second and the First one are almost

renewed.

Here, we can gaze at Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque or Neoclassical style

constructions due to the profusion of towers, bastions, curtain walls,

defensive ditches, or bridges.

The 11th of Agust 1953 the Fortified Precincts were declared a site of

Historic Artistic Interest. Subsequently, the 5th of December 1986, they

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were considered to be a site of cultural interest. Likewise, the UNESCO

suggested the preservation of the old fortifications of Melilla, considering

them as a great sample of the Spanish acrhitecture and civil engineering,

being not only an experience but also a referent for those rised in the

"overseas provinces”

The First Precinct is a cluster of Rennaisance trapezoidal in shape situated

almost upon the sea.

Its enclosure is made up of towers linked by walls. It is connected with the

Second and First Precincts, fortified in a crown shape, throught the Puerta

de Santiago. It it connected with the Fourth Precinct through la Puerta de

la Alcazaba or de la Alafia. Its bridges isolated the city of the peninsula or

the region of the Garet, also known as Kelaya or territory of castles

defining the African Castilla.

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GATEWAY OF LA MARINA

The Gateway of La Marina is the most important urban facade of Melilla la

Vieja toward the modern city; the emblematic element of this Historic

Melilla.

The walled precinct of Melilla la Vieja has three sea fronts, called Muralla

de Trápana , Muralla de Levante o del Socorro and Frente de la Marina

(Front of the Marine) and another one called Frente de Tierra (Land

Front). In the so called The Puerta del Mar, built in 1533 and conducted

by Benedito de Rábena y Sancho de Escalante. This is the area of the

primitive wharf by which were received and discharged supplies and

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ammunition from Málaga and Almería. The aid gateway was only used for

dangerous situations and storms. It was at the basis of the front of the

lighthouse building whose entrance occurred through a vault sited in the

the King’s Hospital. This gatway and wharf let access to the fortress in

case of siege.

The Tower of la Cal was used in order to defence the Gateway of La

Marina, and protect the door of the front fires. Over this period, there

were danger pirates, Turks and Argelians sailing the Mar Chica lagoon.

In this Front of la Marina, which is a whole monument site, buildings and

elementes related to the fortification were established. The last biuilding

sites from the 18th were carried out in order to rebuild the front of the sea,

rehabilitating all its canvas of walls and building the Puerta de la Marina,

rebuilt in a severe Neoclasical style.

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THE WATER STORAGE TANKS

This old water storage tanks designed to supply rainwater for the city are

located at the Plaza de la Maestranza, showing to it its main facade made

of good probably imported masonry stone. Drawn marks in the stone were

made in every stone brick to justify the worker’s volume of work and claim

of payment. They represent arrows, Maltese and Lorraine crosses, etc.

Considered as one of the best works of the Spanish civil engineering, their

dimensions are spectacular: 8 metres depth, 8 metres length and 4 metres

width each one, having a capacity of 572 square meters each one (230.040

litres). The diagonal line that crosses the front is a sign of the old ramp to

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the superior square, the Plaza del Gobernador (Governor’s square). Not

only is the line of the support arch perceived but also some bullet holes.

The main details are four doors with a large inscription inscribbed on the

upper part of them, almost in the centre of the wall. It says: “THE 1st OF

FEBRUARY, 1571 BEING THE MAYOR AND CAPTAIN OF THIS CITY BY

S. M. FRANCISCO SÁNCHEZ DE CÓRDOBA, THESE TANKS WERE

CLOSED”.

The two main central doors connect with the entrances of the deposits for

its cleaning. They are covered by a barrel vault with an arch of central

keystone and walls like buttresses. The two side doors connect with the

decanting tanks where the rainwater was collected and purified by leaking

it trough sand.

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SANTA ANA TUNNEL

Access from this chapel to the Plaza de la Maestranza (Square of la

Maestranza) is through the The Santa Ana Tunnel, a marvelous masonry

barrel bault construction from between 1622 and 1623, subsequently

restored due to collapse reasons.

Over its arch at the end of the tunnel and at the Plaza de la Maestranza, it

is written: “THIS ARCH FELL DOWN AND THE CAPTAIN FRANCISCO

RORDRIGUEZ FROM THE CITY OF TRUJILLO, MAYOR AND

GOVERNOR BY CONSENT OF THE KING ORDERED TO REBUILD IT,

BEING FINISHED THE 4th OF MARCH 1622”.

CHAPEL OF SANTIAGO

Built in 1551 by Miguel de Perea in a Gothic style with the help of Sancho

Escalante, was rebuilt by Pedro de Palacios in 1654. The image of the Saint

Santiago was moved from the church to an altar raised in this chapel.

Due to an earthquake in 1660, the door broke down and it was decided to

dismantle and restore it. Likewise, in 1908, it is dismantled again due to

the works of houses built over the artillery batteries and la Torre de la

Vela (the tower of candle) dismantles again. Of limited dimensions and

masonry made, it is located at the ancient Santa Ana Doorway, at the exit

or entry of the city and at the main entrance to the subterranean

communications, through the gate of its side wall.

Its main function was to serve as a religious space with the image of the

apostle.

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SANTA ANA DOORWAY

The Santa Ana Doorway, medieval door and the first one when getting

into the citadel is from 1515. At the beginning, this door, whose bridge

covered the seven metres high moat, was easily assailable and dangerous

not offering much security because its not so curved vaults were easily

sighted outside the fortress.

Gabriel Tadino de Martinengo, artilleryman of Spain by the royal

appointment of Carlos V wrote a report about the precinct and all its

needs considering that the most assailable part was the West. Because of

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this reason, he proposed, among several things, the correction and

reinforcement of the old entrance door. We know that he modified such

land gate and it was also supervised and restored for the Spanish Captain

Juan Vallejo (1529) and Francisco Tejada (1540), who reinforced and

extended the curtain wall where the Santa Ana Doorway is now.

According to a document from 1540, the definitive solution for the

security of the entrance to the city will be carried out by Miguel de Perea

after a report in which he demonstrated the low of the main fortress walls,

the need of a back stay wall with a non-straight tunnel but with a bend for

security reasons, due to the door was “alfresco”.

Unequivocably Gothic and medieval, The Santa Ana Doorway, lost this

shape due to a collapse as a consequence of the weight of la Casa del Reloj

(The house of the clock). The restoration for its consolidation was the

cause of the lost of the outer part of the door. Inside it, the Chapel of

Santiago is situated.

MOAT AND SANTIAGO DOORWAY

Doubtlessly the most representative monuments of “Melilla la Vieja” or

the First Fortified Precinct and once ago, they were the emblem of the

city as well.

Moat of Santiago: There were two ways to get direct access to the

enclosure: the land and the sea accesses. The first one was more complex

and wide and so that, the most suitable for the protection of the defense,

hence the importance of the construction of the defensive moat and its

doorway.

Although it adquires its real importance in 1569 with the arrival of the

engineer Miguel de Perea, whose task consisted on finnishing the works

of the configuration of the First Precinct, the Moat of Santiago started

being dug and built in 1515. Owing the fact that the dimensions of it were

very limited and it was very easy to jump it, Miguel de Perea’s first tackled

task was the spreading of the defensive moat, digging the rock up to the

sea level, connecting the moat to the Galápagos Cove by the north.

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The woods of the drawbridge are from the end of the 16th century and

come from the dismantled one in the Rock of Vélez de la Gomera. It

comprises two parts: the raising one and the hanging bridge, with

keystones made of stone and wood.

Santiago Doorway: The doorway and the guardhouse of Santiago were

constructed as an advance fortress, for a better defense of the Gothic

Doorway of Santa Ana in the First Precinct, covered and proctected since

then. This work was carried out during the reign of Carlos V in the middle

of the 15th century. Entirely surrounded by a dicth, the doorway, whose

portal is an adobe brick building stone semi-circular arch, ends in the

shield of Carlos V. It appears flanked by two bastions that surround the

door in a bend: on the right side, there is the Torreón de las Beatas

(Tower of the Pious) with a detached house which became a sloped tower

through years; on the left side, there is the Torreón Mocho or

Desmochado.

The door, after the intermittence of some vault ceilings (serie constituted

by the towers and Tunnel of Santiago, the guardhouse, the stairs of the

embankment and the jails inside them) leads to the advance fortress. All

this set is known as La Avanzada or Baluarte de Santiago (the Advance

party or the Bastion of Santiago).

PLAZA DE ARMAS

The first settlement of the Spanish population after the storming of the

city in 1497 was historically located in “Villa la vieja" (2nd and 3rd Fortified

Precincts). In the Second Precicnt of the old city visitors find the Plaza de

Armas (Place of arms) which defines a space that will experiment

important modifications, according to historiographic and archaeological

sources which let us know the different periods of occupation in the city:

The archaeological material would confirm the Punic and Roman presence

in a period of urban expansion of Russadir, between 3 BC and 3 AC. It was

possibly an area planned to function as a local market in the Middle Ages.

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That is why the name of the city was known as la “Alaphia”. Numerous

silos with a ceramic material provide us visual features of caliphal, Omey,

Almoravid or Almohad epoch in the city from the 10th century untill the

14th century.

In the Modern Age times, at the end of the 15th century, la Alaphia is

called “Villa vieja” (Old village) in contrast to La Villa Nueva (New

Village) or First Precinct). Subsequently and due to the continous

blockades and attacks the square suffered during the 17th and 18th

centuries, a ditch called Hornabeque was decided to divide and leave it as

Place of Arms for the troops of the garrison city, keeping the Shrine from

the 16th century dedicated to the Virgin of la Victoria, patron saint of

Melilla.

The current plan of the Second Fortified Precinct presents a square with

big staircase, from where visitors can gaze the marvelous view upon the

Ensenada de los Galápagos (Galápagos Cove) and the Moat of Santiago.

KING’S HOSPITAL

Since the first day of its occupancy in 1497, Melilla has a place for the

medical care of ill and hurted people. When the Asiento de Alcalá de

Henares occured in 1498 it is announced the presence of a Scientist, a

Surgeon and an Apothecary.

Since middle 17th century, the licensed doctors executed their professions

at the old Hospital de San Francisco, in fron of the Church of La

Pusrísima Concepción.

In 1722, this hospital had a capacity enough to allow 150 patients,

although there were only 61 beds distributed in “three ample rooms,

corridors and offices”. Nexto to this Hospital there were the pharmacy.

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In1752, Mr Thomas de Ibarluce presents a project of the new hospital

which will be sited in the Hoyo de la Cárcel, with facade towards the Plaza

de la Parada. Once selected the project, building sites were started in

1758. The hospital consisted of two floors and a third one with small

dimensions where the infirmary was located, in which were the pabilion of

the Head of Public Health was established. The hospital was connected

with the Puerta de Socorro through a tunnel.

The Hospital Real continues with this charity performance by treating

civilian and military persons until 1929. After a long restoration, the

building comprehends the Archives of the City, its current function.

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CAVES OF CONVENTICO

Situated on the cliffs which form one of the closing walls of the First

Precinct, Las cuevas del Conventico (the Caves of Conventico) are a group

of cliff dwelling dug under the so called Muralla de la Cruz (the fortress

wall cross), over the Cove of Trápana, privileged place of an amazing

beauty. It is located next to the Church and the old monastery of the

capuchin monks, the reason of its name.

Initially separated, they appear with different names in many references,

although they nowadays constitute a Historical site of three visitable levels

of irregular naves, very wide and vaulted. Access to the sea is possible by a

ramp built onto the cliff.

Once finished the Fourth Precinct, almost all the caves of Melilla were dug

during the 18th century due to the need of keeping supplies and materials.

Nevertheless, when besieging, they were used as a shelter for people and

objects of worship.

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EL CONVENTICO Sacred Art Collection

Felipe IV ordered to buy this building for the monks of the religious order

of the capuchins, hence the name of the caves: because of their location,

they were communicated with the buildings called “EL CONVETICO”.

On September 29th, 1663 Mr Miguel Álvarez sold this building to the King

and Magister Mr Luís de Velásquez y Angulo.

The building was always inhabited by the monks, except for the 19th

century when was used to place liberal deputies of Las Cortes de Cádiz

(the Court of Cádiz) banished in Melilla.

The Sacred Art Collection of the City of Melilla is currently guarded in the

inner part, allowing us to contemplate the old monasteries of the minor

monks of the order of the capuchins.

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CHURCH OF LA CONCEPCIÓN

There, where the Church of San Miguel Arcangel was located in ancient

times, the Real y Pontífica Iglesia de la Purísima Concepción is placed

today. Its construction started in 1656 and lasted for 25 years. The 8th of

December 1682 the major chapel is finished and dedicated to all Sanints.

It is named Real (Loyal) awarded by Her Majesty the Queen Mariana of

Austria, widow of Felipe IV and regent of Carlos II and pontificated by

Papal bull from SS. ALEJANDRO VII. Over the toral arch keystone which

opens the porch where the presbytery is located, there is a great two-

colored oval badge showing, the tiara and keys of Saint Peter pulled-out.

According with the basilical Latin style, the plant of this Church is

Romanesque and has a three naves rectangular body and a Major Chapel

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in the chevet. The highest nave is the central one and it had a bright and

colorful Baroque ornamentation.

La Capilla Mayor (Major Chapel) has an unusual strong wall, of 1,60m

thick and an average of 1,25m the side walls, in spite of the firm rock on

which it rests and the non-excesive load to support.

The main task was the

reinforcement of the damaged

walls. The damages caused by

the hearthquake of Lisboa,

which harmed the main rock.

As time went by, some

chapels, several lady chapels

and the new ornamentation in

archs and vaults were added.

The facade of the Church,

from the 18th century, shows a

classical order in its exterior:

a severe austerity and the

poverty of ornaments

suggesting that these works were carried out in the strictest penury.

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