La obra coronada en la fortificación de Puertas de Tierra de Cádiz durante el siglo XVII

Abstract

The fortification of "Puertas de Tierra" of the city of Cádiz was constituted during the Modern Age as the key piece of the whole defensive system of the city, which made possible its configuration as an impregnable plaza, allowing its defense in the only front communicated with land. Throughout the seventeenth century this defensive complex underwent important changes in order to become an effective system because of the new advances incorporated in the artillery. Within these changes, the construction of a crowned work throughout the second half of the century was constituted as one of the most important military constructions developed in the city in century XVII. However, at the beginning of the eighteenth century with the arrival of the engineer Ignacio Sala to the city, this element ceased to make sense in the proposed new fortification project, proceeding in a short time to demolition. The present paper seeks to analyze geometrically the characteristics of this crowned work, present in most of the fortification treaties that existed, and to discuss the causes that motivated Ignacio Sala to dispense with its presence in the eighteenth century.