Spanish architecture refers to architecture in any area of what is now Spain, and by Spanish architects worldwide, influencing mainly areas of what was once part of the Spanish Empire. The term includes buildings which were constructed within the current borders of Spain prior to its existence as a nation, when the land was called Iberia, Hispania, or was divided between several Christian and Muslim kingdoms. Spanish architecture demonstrates great historical and geographical diversity, depending on the historical period. It developed along similar lines as other architectural styles around the Mediterranean and from Central and Northern Europe, although some Spanish constructions are unique.
A real development came with the arrival of the Romans, who left behind some of their most outstanding monuments in Hispania. The arrival of the Visigoths brought about a profound decline in building techniques which was paralleled in the rest of the former Roman Empire. The Muslim conquest in 711 CE led to a radical change and for the following eight centuries there were great advances in culture, including architecture. For example, Córdoba was established as the cultural capital of its time under the Umayyad dynasty. Simultaneously, Christian kingdoms such as Castile and Aragon gradually emerged and developed their own styles, at first mostly isolated from other European architectural influences, and soon later integrated into Romanesque and Gothic and Renaissance streams, they reached an extraordinary peak with numerous samples along the whole territory. There were also some samples of Mudéjar style, from the 12th to 16th centuries, characterised by the blending of Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance architectural styles with constructive, ornamental, and decorative motifs derived from those that had been brought to or developed in Al-Andalus.
Towards the end of the 15th century, and before influencing with its Colonial architecture, Spain itself experimented with Renaissance architecture, developed mostly by local architects. Spanish Baroque was distinguished by its exuberant Churrigueresque decoration and the most sober Herrerian style, both developing separately from later international influences. The Colonial style, which has lasted for centuries, still has a strong influence. Neoclassicism reached its peak in the work of Juan de Villanueva and his disciples.
The 19th century had two faces: the engineering efforts to achieve a new language and bring about structural improvements using iron and glass as the main building materials, and the academic focus, firstly on revivals and eclecticism, and later on regionalism. The arrival of Modernisme in the academic arena produced figures such as Gaudí and much of the architecture of the 20th century. The International style was led by groups like GATEPAC. Spain is currently experiencing a revolution in contemporary architecture and Spanish architects like Rafael Moneo, Santiago Calatrava, Ricardo Bofill as well as many others have gained worldwide renown.
Many architectural sites in Spain, and even portions of cities, have been designated World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Spain has the third highest number of World Heritage Sites in the world; only Italy and China have more. These are listed at List of World Heritage Sites in Europe: Spain.
Prehistory Megalithic architecture
In the Stone Age, the most common megalith found in the Iberian Peninsula was the dolmen. The plans of these funerary chambers used to be pseudocircles or trapezoids, formed by huge stones stuck on the ground, and others over them, forming the roof. As the typology evolved, an entrance corridor appeared, and gradually took prominence and became almost as wide as the chamber. Roofed corridors and false domes were common in the most advanced stage. The complex of Antequera contains the largest dolmens in Europe. The best preserved, the Cueva de Menga, is twenty-five metres deep and four metres high, and was built with thirty-two megaliths.
The best preserved examples of architecture from the Bronze Age are located in the Balearic Islands, where three kinds of construction appeared: the T-shaped taula, the talayot and the naveta. The talayots were troncoconical or troncopiramidal defensive towers. They used to have a central pillar. The navetas, were constructions made of great stones and their shape was similar to a ship hull.
Iberian and Celtic architecture
The most characteristic constructions of the Celts were the castros, walled villages usually on the top of hills or mountains. They were developed at the areas occupied by the Celts in the Douro valley (Portugal) and in Galicia. Examples include Las Cogotas, in Ávila, the Castro of Santa Tecla, in Pontevedra in Spain. The houses inside the castros are about 3.5 to 5 meters long, mostly circular with some rectangular, stone-made and with thatch roofs which rested on a wood column in the centre of the building. Their streets are somewhat regular, suggesting some form of central organization.
The towns built by the Arévacos were related to Iberian culture, and some of them reached notable urban development like Numantia. Others were more primitive and usually excavated into the rock, like Termantia.
Roman Urban development
The Roman conquest, started in 218 BC, promoted the almost complete romanization of the Iberian Peninsula. Roman culture was fully assimilated by the local population. Former military camps and Iberian, Phoenician and Greek settlements were transformed into large cities where urbanization highly developed in the provinces; Augusta Emerita in the Lusitania, Corduba, Italica, Hispalis, Gades in the Hispania Baetica, Tarraco, Caesar Augusta, Asturica Augusta, Legio Septima Gemina and Lucus Augusti in the Hispania Tarraconensis were some of the most important cities, linked by a complex network of roads. The construction development includes some monuments of comparable quality to those of the capital, Rome.Chueca Goitia, Fernando. De Grecia al Islam. Seminarios y Ediciones, 1974. Pages 172-174, 179 DOSSAT, 2000,
Constructions
Roman civil engineering is represented in imposing constructions such as the Aqueduct of Segovia and the Acueducto de los Milagros in Mérida, in bridges like the Alcántara Bridge, Puente Romano over Guadiana River, and the Roman bridge of Córdoba over the Guadalquivir. Civil works were widely developed in Hispania under Emperor Trajan (98-117 AD). Lighthouses like the one still in use Hercules Tower in A Coruña, were also built.
Ludic architecture is represented by such buildings as the theatres of Mérida, Sagunto, Cádiz, Cartagena, and Tarraco, amphitheaters in Mérida, Italica, Tarraco or Segóbriga, and circuses in Mérida, Toledo, and many others.
Religious architecture also spread throughout the Peninsula; examples include the Roman temples of Barcelona, Córdoba, Vic, and Alcántara,
The main funerary monuments are the Torre dels Escipions in Tarraco, the distyle in Zalamea de la Serena, and the Mausoleum of the Atilii in Sádaba, Zaragoza. Roman triumphal arches can be found in Cabanes, Castellón, Medinaceli, and the Arc de Berà near Roda de Berà.
Pre-Romanesque
The term Pre-Romanesque refers to the Christian art after the Classical Age and before Romanesque art and architecture. It covers very heterogeneous artistic displays for they were developed in different centuries and by different cultures. Spanish territory boasts a rich variety of Pre-Romanesque architecture: some of its branches, like the Asturian art reached high levels of refinement for their era and cultural context.
Visigothic architecture
From the 6th century, it is worth mentioning the remains of the Cabeza de Griego basilica, in Cuenca and the small church of San Cugat del Vallés, in Barcelona. This one, although very deteriorated, clearly shows a single nave plan that ends in an apse. From the following century are those of San Pedro de la Nave, San Juan de Baños, Santa María de Quintanilla de las Viñas, whose layout will later be repeated in other later temples belonging to the "repopulation style" (misnamed "Mozarab»). For the rest, at this time the early Christian tradition is basically followed in religious architecture. The most representative buildings can be related to the following:
Church of San Pedro de la Nave in San Pedro de la Nave-Almendra (Zamora)
Church of Santa Comba de Bande (Orense)
Church of San Juan Bautista de Baños de Cerrato (Palencia)
Crypt of San Antolín in the cathedral of Palencia (Palencia)
Church of San Pedro de la Mata de Sonseca (Toledo)
Chapel of Santa María de Quintanilla de las Viñas (Burgos)
Asturian architecture
The kingdom of Asturias arose in 718, when the Astur tribes, rallied in assembly, decided to appoint Pelayo as their leader. Pelayo joined the local tribes and the refuged Visigoths under his command, with the intention of progressively restoring Gothic Order.
Asturian Pre-Romanesque is a singular feature in all Spain, which, while combining elements from other styles as Visigothic and local traditions, created and developed its own personality and characteristics, reaching a considerable level of refinement, not only as regards construction, but also in terms of aesthetics.
As regards its evolution, from its appearance, Asturian Pre-Romanesque followed a "stylistic sequence closely associated with the kingdom's political evolution, its stages clearly outlined". It was mainly a court architecture, and five stages are distinguished: a first period (737–791) from the reign of the king Fáfila to Vermudo I, a second stage comprises the reign of Alfonso II (791–842), entering a stage of stylistic definition. These two first stages receive the name of 'Pre-Ramirense'. The most important example is the church San Julián de los Prados in Oviedo, with an interesting volume system and a complex iconographic fresco program, related narrowly to the Roman mural paintings. Lattices and trifoliate windows in the apse appear for the first time at this stage. The Holy Chamber of the Cathedral of Oviedo, San Pedro de Nora and Santa María de Bendones also belong to it.
The third period comprises the reigns of Ramiro I (842–850) and Ordoño I (850–866). It is called 'Ramirense' and is considered the zenith of the style, due to the work of an unknown architect who brought new structural and ornamental achievements like the barrel vault, and the consistent use of transverse arches and buttresses, which made the style rather close to the structural achievements of the Romanesque two centuries later. Some writers have pointed to an unexplained Syrian influence of the rich ornamentation. In that period, most of the masterpieces of the style flourished: the palace pavilions of Naranco Mountain (Santa Maria del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo), and the church of Santa Cristina de Lena were built in that period.
The fourth period belongs to the reign of Alfonso III (866–910), where a strong Mozarabic influence arrived to Asturian architecture, and the use of the horseshoe arch expanded. A fifth and last period, which coincides with the transfer of the court to León, the disappearance of the kingdom of Asturias, and simultaneously, of Asturian Pre-Romanesque.
Mozarabic architecture