The arches of the Sanctuary of Loyola. The relationship between the Roman project and Spanish building techniques

Abstract

The ascent to the throne of Spain in 1714 by Philip V of Bourbon ended the War of the Spanish Succession, and opened a new period of peace and prosperity that is reflected mainly in the building sites sponsored by the Crown, including also the factory of the Sanctuary of Loyola, which restarted the construction under the leadership of Sebastian Lecuna, who was in charge of raising the circular church. However, the complexity of the project, edited by Carlo Fontana and sent from Rome in 1686, and the changes already made in the plant imposed a careful preliminary reflection which resulted in 1719 in a consultation which was attended by the former director of the factory, Martin de Zaldua, the theoretical Benedictine Pedro Martinez de Cardeña and the Salamanca Cathedral master mayor Joaquin de Churriguera. The masters were contacted to express their opinion about the construction of the vaults of the nave ring, the decoration and especially on the most suitable form to be assigned to the arches of the church, a subject of great interest cause of their uniqueness and complexity. In this sense, the loss of the original drawings do not allow a proper understanding neither of the proposals submitted or the final solution adopted but, nevertheless, a careful study of archival records and the reconstruction of the stereotomic geometry underlies these arches now has led to new contributions, which are useful to a greater general understanding of the factory.

Keywords: Loyola, Stereotomy, Carlo Fontana, Sebastian Lecuna, arches