Subject

Religious route of Cáceres

 

Objective

Preserve the unique atmosphere of a medieval city.

 

Location

Cáceres (Spain)

 

Course

Erasmus Intensive program Sensing the City

 

Year

2012

La Iglesia Religious route of Cáceres (ESP)
Caceres history and old quarter are directly connected with religious architecture. It’s so much so that its development and growth are shaped around the religious centers, which have different characters and which express big part of the history of the city. These main points in the urban form and the city have been able to create important public spaces around them, in contrast to the hermetic character of the clerical buildings they are associated with. Although temples are catholic, great part of them were located, since 15th century, where mosques were before, so the configuration of the old quarter found the fusion between the previous urbanism, Moorish, and the new elements, the church. Lack of innovative ideas and management regarding to preservation created a problem in unique city: difference in pavement. Over 40 various pavements that not only differ in material and fracture but also age and condition, spread all over the city without any strategy. There was no practical reason for the different kind of pavements. W knew that there is not that much we could do about it as architects and urban planners.
Therefore, our solution was not an architectural intervention. It was about an architectural and urban understanding which had to protect the city from future irresponsible interventions . It`s not like you could throw out all of the old pavement and replace it with new one. Of course there where some important places where such big changes could be done but the main thing is that renovations in the future must be done with high quality material by qualified workers if Caceres doesn’t want to lose it unique atmosphere of a medieval city. And that lies in the hands of a responsible authority and innovative strategies. .