The () or (), also known as , or , is a hydraulic complex located along the Imperial Canal of Aragon in Zaragoza (Spain).
It was inaugurated as part of the Imperial Canal of Aragon works in 1786 and formed an integral part of Zaragoza life from the 18th century. It was a site of great significance during the Enlightenment in Aragon, in the sieges of Zaragoza during the Peninsular War, and in the industrialization and electrification of the 20th century in the region. As such, it formed the historic nucleus of the current Casablanca neighborhood and district, to which it gave its current name due to its characteristic white walls.
Today, it serves as a small hydroelectric power station and as a historic complex around which a park known for the Fountain of the Incredulous is organized. Since 2000 it has been protected as a Bien de Interés Cultural ().
Description The complex is located at kilometer 81.5 of the Imperial Canal of Aragon. The locks span two drops of 3.25 meters each, built in limestone. Formerly they were closed with wooden gates, now disappeared after losing their use when navigation on the canal ceased. The chambers they form are elliptical in plan (with 9.75 and 35.10 meters on their axes) and took eight minutes to fill during their operational period. This is a typical typology of the era, designed to contain the thrust of water against the terrain using a vault structure.
Parallel to the locks, the current encounters three arched linteled gates that divert the current for human use. Above these is located the so-called almenara of San Carlos, following the typical scheme in the canal's architecture. It consists of a one-story hut, to operate the almenaras, and an attached two-story module, used as quarters for the guard. Both blocks are plastered with lime, giving it the white color that earned the building the popular name of "la Casablanca" (the White House).
The mill attached to this building has two floors and is an example of the industrial architecture of the era. It has a rectangular plan with ashlar stone walls also whitewashed, finished with eaves and covered by a four-slope roof of Arabic tile. The tailraces of the old mill are still preserved, which had six millstones in operation.
In the vicinity of the mill were two more blocks of rectangular plan and similar appearance. One, located to the west, was used for fulling mills and today is the office of ACESA (Ebro Hydrographic Confederation). In front of it, a dike was built for operation as a port, which allowed ships of 126x25 toises, capable of transporting 2700 arrobas. The other building, located to the northeast and now disappeared, was known as Casa de San Carlos and was a port warehouse and later an inn for travelers. To provide these services, it had stables nearby.
The complex was surrounded by an open area, where the Fountain of the Incredulous and the current Incredulous Park are located. A bridge on the Royal Road crossed nearby on its route from Valencia to the city. The aqueduct that went to Romareda passed over the bridge, with tolls collected for its maintenance. The bridge was later widened for motor traffic at the expense of Casa de San Carlos, with the structure of the original bridge still visible under the new concrete deck. In times past there also existed a small chapel in the area, under the invocation of the Virgin of the Pillar.
History Construction The connection of the Cantabrian Sea with the Mediterranean was a strategic Aragonese dream in Enlightenment times. The Royal Aragonese Economic Society of Friends of the Country and, particularly, Ramón Pignatelli promoted from 1776 the construction of the Imperial Canal of Aragon to create a navigable waterway that would allow Aragonese products to reach the sea and develop irrigated agriculture.
Its passage through Zaragoza was complex due to the orography, making the creation of several sets of locks and unique works to cross the Huerva River inevitable. The original project, by Dutch engineer Cornelis Krayenhoff, was corrected and executed by military engineer Julián Sánchez Boort and his team (which included Fernando de Ulloa and Luis Chimioni). Next to the locks closest to the city, and taking advantage of the fact that they should be stopping places for vessels, it was decided to erect a complex with docks and warehouses for ships using the canal. In addition, the unevenness of the so-called almenara of San Carlos allowed the current to be used to move a flour mill and several fulling mills as part of Zaragoza's first modern industry.
The works were long and costly. After various financing problems by the canal's promoters, the locks' works began in 1780 and were completed in 1782, although the waters did not reach Casablanca until 1784. The opening of the following Zaragoza sections of the canal, complicated by the difficulties presented by the soil, was postponed two more years and it was not until 1786 that the complex could be officially inaugurated. The inauguration of Casablanca served as a public celebration for the conclusion of the canal works, in a massive event that attracted most of the population.
The facilities were a unique point as the main contact between the infrastructure and the largest city it served. Showing its symbolism, Pignatelli ordered the erection there of the Fountain of the Incredulous as a response to critics of the project. Symbols of the hydraulic enterprise undertaken, the locks became from the first moment one of Zaragoza's symbols. English traveler Joseph Townsend described them thus on his journey in 1786-1787:
In 1789 Pignatelli gave the order for navigation to begin on the canal. In its first moments of life, the port had intense activity. About ten shipsMaría del Carmen Sobrón speaks of 10 ships in 1804 and 11 in 1811 in her Cuadernos de Zaragoza (collected by Latas Fuertes) provided regular service transporting grain, salt and other products thanks to the force of the Cierzo or draft animals when the wind was not enough. The journey between El Bocal (Tudela) and the port of Casablanca, half a league from Zaragoza, took 12 to 16 hours, reducing to a quarter the time compared to a land convoy. The reverse route had to be done with animal traction against the wind and took twice as long.
The main goods transported were wheat, from the Navarrese riverbank and the rich agricultural area of the Cinco Villas to the Zaragoza market on the outbound journey and products from the Aragonese market garden (licorice, vegetables) along with small manufactures on the return. During the War of the Pyrenees (1793-1795), significant military traffic was also added given the advantages it offered for transporting artillery and ammunition. For passenger transport, two vessels "like those of Holland" with fourteen seated places under cover (plus others outside) were available, offering regular services to Tudela with stops at the port of Casablanca and Miraflores port. p.150 (Latas op. cit.)
Casablanca during the War of Independence This logistics hub was especially relevant during the Peninsular War, with the canal being used as part of the main supply routes of the occupying French army. Their logistics routes entered the peninsula through Navarre, and upon reaching Tudela, they used the canal to supply their operations in Aragon and Catalonia.
The city's uprising against the French occupation in May 1808 forced the anti-French party to take the canal, where canal official Antonio Lamana distinguished himself by securing for the rebels the boats that plied it. As part of the rapid program of fortification of the city by Antonio de Sangenís, the canal was redesigned as a defensive line to cover the southern flank of the city, with several cannons installed at Casablanca and other key points. Casablanca was key to controlling the city's supply and its bridge was one of the possible crossings of the canal to surprise the defenders, so the garrison was significant. As Agustín Alcaide Ibieca cites in his history of the sieges:
Meanwhile, the newly invested commander of the rebels José de Palafox summoned all available vessels at the Casablanca facilities to send troops to Tudela.
The rapid French advance made the sorties from the port of Casablanca fruitless. But despite the failure to relieve the Ebro riverbank upstream, Palafox managed through the ports of Casablanca and Miraflores to equip himself with weapons and ammunition before the arrival of the French army.
After the failure of Zaragoza's advanced defense, the French forces hastened to besiege the city. One of the key combats took place on June 15, 1808 at Casablanca, where despite the harsh initial reception given to them by the defenders, the defense line was broken when one of the cannons exploded, leaving the other damaged. Only the spirit of Escobedo, who soon understood the risk that the loss of the bridge giving access from the south posed for the city and set up a second defensive line inside, avoided greater evils for the defenders.
The resulting first siege however ended in a Gallic failure, as they failed to close the siege. Unable to surrender the city, they had to end up lifting the siege after news arrived of the defeat at Bailén. In their flight from the city, they abandoned significant quantities of weaponry at the port of Casablanca.
However, Napoleon's personal intervention changed the course of the war and the French army soon returned to attempt to capture the city. As a preventive measure, the canal was cut in October 1808 at Grisén, to prevent French artillery and heavy weaponry from approaching Casablanca. The defensive positions at Casablanca were reinforced with the formation of two artillery batteries and the felling of the surrounding olive trees that limited the firing zone. However, the position's commanders distrusted its security. The person responsible for Casablanca, Federico Castañer, requested in a report more men and ammunition while the artillery commander Luis de Gonzaga y de Villaba, later backed by Sangenís himself, alerted Palafox to the vulnerability of the position. Despite these voices, Palafox refused to divide his forces further to reinforce the garrison.
In the midst of these operations, the French arrived on December 1. That same day, the Casablanca batteries made their debut repelling a surprise French attack. On the 20th of that same month the position was strongly attacked, whose commander found himself overwhelmed and abandoned it after disabling the cannons. With this defeat, General Saint-Marq had to fall back from the canal defensive line toward the city.
During the subsequent second siege of the city, the building was used by the French army commanded by Jean Lannes as headquarters. After a hard struggle, the council that commanded the resistance with Palafox ill surrendered at the mill. A commemorative note on its walls recalls this use and the final capitulation of the city authorities at that place.
During the subsequent French occupation, the canal would be repaired and used as a supply route. Under the control of intendant Carlos Victor D'Hautefort, traffic multiplied, with the canal fleet reaching 15 boats. Uniquely, Casablanca was used as a place of executions to punish a contingent of Polish troops who had mutinied in the absence of governor Louis Gabriel Suchet on March 27, 1811.
Casablanca in the 19th century