Architectural heritage preservation and sustainability need advanced graphic techniques in order to document and understand the disposition/composition of plaster muqarnas, a fragile construction element. The muqarnas are key elements in the Nasrid architecture developed during the 14th century in the Alhambra complex, nowadays part of World Heritage. As a case study, this analysis focuses on the muqarnas pendentives of the Sala de la Barca in the Comares Palace. After examining both explanations and drawings published by architects Jones and Goury from 1842 to 1845, our research provides new drawings (plans and elevations) derived from laser scanner technology. Theoretically, though muqarnas are composed of simple geometrical shapes, these new drawings unveil important deformations hitherto unknown, and which have not been studied yet by other bibliographic references. Finally, we provide some considerations about the causes of these deformations and the monument sustainability across the time and the images’ capacity to show the muqarnas complex shapes in a reliable way.

Suitable graphic documentation is essential to ascertain and conserve architectural heritage. For the first time, accurate digital images are provided of a 16th-century wooden ceiling, composed of geometric interlacing patterns, in the Pinelo Palace in Seville. Today, this ceiling suffers from significant deformation. Although there are many publications on the digital documentation of architectural heritage, no graphic studies on this type of deformed ceilings have been presented. This study starts by providing data on the palace history concerning the design of geometric interlacing patterns in carpentry according to the 1633 book by López de Arenas, and on the ceiling consolidation in the 20th century. Images were then obtained using two complementary procedures: from a 3D laser scanner, which offers metric data on deformations; and from photogrammetry, which facilitates the visualisation of details. In this way, this type of heritage is documented in an innovative graphic approach, which is essential for its conservation and/or restoration with scientific foundations and also to disseminate a reliable digital image of the most beautiful ceiling of this Renaissance palace in southern Europe.

La Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba cuenta con un rico legado de imágenes hasta la llegada de la fotografía a mediados del XIX que constituyen una destacada fuente documental para la investigación. Tras una amplia labor de rastreo y localización de dichas imágenes, se aportan referencias sobre sus autores, contexto y técnicas, valorando su fiabilidad o precisión gráfica. Las primeras conocidas corresponden a tiempos cristianos, destacando dos panorámicas urbanas de la segunda mitad del XVI, una de ellas objeto de plagios con una notable difusión en Europa. Los primeros planos a escala del monumento conservados son del XVIII y las primeras vistas interiores de finales de ese siglo. En la primera mitad del XIX se produjeron abundantes imágenes de viajeros y artistas, algunas muy bellas y publicadas con gran éxito editorial. Los documentos gráficos reseñados se presentan agrupados según su autoría y orden cronológico: primeras imágenes simbólicas (desde 1360), Wyngaerde (1567), Civitatis (h. 1585-1617), copias del Civitatis (s. XVII-XVIII), Baldi (1668), óleo anónimo (1741), imágenes esquemáticas (s. XVIII), dibujo colección Vázquez Venegas (1752), planos Académicos (1767-1804), Swinburne (1775-1779), Karwinsky y Rillo (1811), Laborde (h. 1800-1812), Murphy (1802-1813), Bacler d’Able (h. 1820), Taylor (h. 1826-1832), Ford (1831), Lewis (1832-1836), Prangey (1832-1837), Gail (h. 1832-37), Roberts (1833-1839), Dauzats (h. 1836-1838), Chapuy (h. 1838-1842), Villaamil (h. 1838-1844), Bossuet (h. 1841-1855), Gerhardt (h. 1849-1851), Guesdon (1853), Parcerisa (1855) y Los Monumentos Arquitectónicos (h. 1852-1881).

This research documents and graphically analyzes the pavilions muqarnas at the Court of the Lions in the Alhambra in Granada, a World Heritage Site. In order to cast some light on the understanding and preservation of these 14th century architectural elements, after a brief report of historical data on catastrophes and restorations, a novel methodology for the case study based on three complementary graphic analyses is presented here: First, there is a review of outstanding images ranging from the 17th to the 20th centuries; subsequently, new CAD (computer-aided design) drawings from pavilions muqarnas testing the theoretic principles from their geometric grouping are accomplished for the first time; and finally, a 3D laser scanner is used to understand the precise present-day state from the point cloud obtained. Comparing drawings allows us to assess the muqarnas relevance while proving, for the first time, that the muqarnas of both pavilions have distinct configurations and different amounts of pieces. Besides, this process reveals geometric deformations existing in the original Nasrid muqarnas compositions, identifying small pieces hitherto unknown, plus additional deformations resulting from adjustments after important threats that both pavilions and their muqarnas overcame for centuries, despite their fragile construction.

The work of Philibert Girault de Prangey, who was a draughtsman, pioneering photographer and an Islamic architecture scholar, has been the subject of recent exhibitions in his hometown (Langres, 2019), at the Metropolitan Museum (New York, 2019) and at the Musée d’Orsay (Paris, 2020). After visiting Andalusia between 1832 and 1833, Prangey completed the publication “Monuments arabes et moresques de Cordoue, Seville et Grenada” in 1839, based on his own drawings and measurements. For the first time, this research analyses his interior perspectives of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba (Spain). The novel methodology is based on its comparison with a digital model derived from the point cloud captured by a 3D laser scanner. After locating the different viewpoints, the geometric precision and the elaboration process are analysed, taking into account historic images by various authors, other details published by Prangey and the architectural transformations of the building. In this way, the veracity and documentary interest of some beautiful perspectives of a monument inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO is valued.