In the framework of built heritage monitoring techniques, a prominent position is occupied by thermography, which represents an efficient and non-invasive solution for these kinds of investigations, allowing the identification of phenomena detectable only in the non-visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is of extreme interest, especially considering the possibility of integrating the radiometric information with the 3D models achievable from laser scanning or photogrammetric techniques, characterised by a high spatial resolution. This paper aims to illustrate how combining different geomatics techniques (in particular, by merging thermal images, laser scanning point clouds, and traditional visible colour photogrammetric data) can efficiently support historical analyses for studying heritage buildings. Additionally, a strategy for generating HBIM models starting from the integration of 3D thermal investigations and historical sources is proposed, concerning both the multi-temporal modification of the volumes of the building and the individual architectural elements. The case study analysed for the current research was the Palacio de Colomina in Valencia, Spain, a noble palace—now the headquarters of a university—that, during the last few centuries, has been subjected to considerable transformations in terms of rehabilitation works and modification of its volume.

The city of Valencia (Spain) is famous for its Gothic bridges, built in the 16th century. Today, the bridges no longer cross over the Turia River but have become walkways over one of the most extensive gardens in Europe. One of these bridges is the Serranos Bridge, the oldest bridge in the city and for centuries, it was the only one that existed. This research narrates the evolution of the historical changes related to this bridge, using Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM) technology. The Serranos Bridge (and related Serranos Towers) were recorded with the help of terrestrial laser scanning, and parametric 3D modelling was followed after scan-to-HBIM. By referring to historical documents and traces from the past, the height of the historic wall of the city was obtained and used to recreate the urban footprint of the area. In addition, the details of the historical bridge components and the subsequent volumetric changes were reconstructed through HBIM. This investigation shows that there is a common symbol in the historical bridges of Valencia, called Casilicium, of which no traces can be identified in the present bridge. The effective integration of historical data, geomatics and HBIM can be used to understand the past and its complex transformation over six centuries with unprecedented expectations.

Se propone utilizar el método de restitución perspectiva, sobre una fotografía del desaparecido palacio valenciano de Jura Real, para reconstituir su fachada. El trabajo se ha establecido desde una búsqueda de material gráfico y fotográfico antiguo, en archivos públicos y privados. Afortunadamente se ha contado con la existencia de algunos elementos que pertenecieron al palacio demolido, teniendo así una referencia métrica real. Como resultado del proceso, que se detalla en el texto, se ofrece la fachada desaparecida, introduciendo la información en un programa de dibujo vectorial (Autocad).

The Palace of the Admirals of Aragón is in the city of Valencia, Spain. It was built in the Gothic style of the Valencian self-governing period, and has always been an “architectonic type” reference of this era. Referring to the building itself, there are two elements to highlight because of their interest. The first is its courtyard, which fits into the developed standards in all states of the old Crown of Aragón, talking about either the ones currently in Spain or those existing in France or Italy. Because of that, researchers came up with the term “Mediterranean Gothic” to define this style, since there are currently different geographic regions belonging to different countries. This courtyard will be the main research objective of this paper; it was designed before the ground floor, first floor and small attic interventions. The second element which makes this building unique is its ceilings of carved painted woodwork. Until the present day, this Palace has only been refurbishment once (in 1987), according to written records. The aim of this paper is to show that even though the courtyard has always been used as the best way to show the Valencian Gothic style, many of its elements were added in the first half of the 20th Century. In this research, it can be deduced that there were at least three technicians in the period between 1902 and the late 30s. Surveyor Salvador Furió, who simply put some order into interior partitions where a Gothic spiral staircase was demolished, carried out the first intervention. In the late 1920s, the work was taken over by architect Joaquín Rieta Sister, who was responsible for the restoration of the original state of the courtyard, whose ground floor arcs had been blinded before Rieta’s intervention. He opened these arcs by creating new wall gaps and installing regular windows there. This architect also removed some of the closed rooms on the ground floor, which were used for storage. Finally, he demolished the upper floor façade, turning the attic into a balcony using metallic handrails. After Rieta, architect Antonio Gómez Davó took charge of the work. He kept working on the courtyard, removing the last storage room left, and making three new gaps in the east façade, inspired by existing Neogothic doors. He demolished Rieta’s balconies and turned the upper floor into a useful space that met the requirements of the building to be used as a school. Gómez Davó increased the building’s height by turning this upper floor into a closed space and reconstructed the ashlar wall adding bilobed Gothic windows. From that moment, the courtyard was composed of a ground floor and two full upper floors. Both Rieta’s interventions, as well as the one carried out by Gómez, can be considered “in style”, as it was the ruling fashion at that moment to refurbish historic buildings, at least in Spain.It is interesting to highlight the new or refurbished works by Gómez due to the treatment given to the edges, so the new can be identified against the old. After the intervention by Rieta that turned the attic into a balcony, and after its demolition, there was a horizontal joint left which clearly crosses all the way through the patio’s perimeter. This part also shows a modern intervention treatment for its horizontality and by using new and lighter colour stone in the new attic enclosure, so both areas can be distinguishable.The intervention carried out by Gómez was not only focused on the courtyard as Rieta did. In his archives, there is plenty of written and graphic material to approximate his interventions in this monument. Although the main objective of this research is to show the courtyard’s modern changes as the Palace’s singular element, it has attempted to reflect these interventions briefly, in the attached appendix. For this reason, 3D models of the patio and building have been built to give the most accurate idea of what happened to the building over time. The modelling of the courtyard includes three historical moments: before the intervention of Rieta, after the intervention of Rieta, and after the intervention of Gómez. The modelling of the building includes prior to the intervention of Gómez, after his intervention, before the 1987 intervention, and after its completion. The text also reflects on the danger of interventions “in style”, since these elements have been mistaken for the original ones and therefore may have caused confusion among researchers. Today, progress has been made in favour of historical truthfulness thanks to the participation of archaeologists, restorers to the traditional teams of architects and surveyors, who were dedicated exclusively to these works. Now we may have a different and perhaps more specialized vision in some aspects, thus ensuring a better result of the work.

In the city of Valencia (Spain), there existed from the Middle Ages until the mid-nineteenth century a building that fulfilled a municipal strategic function: The “new flour-weighing house”. Its purpose was to distribute food to the population and collect the corresponding indirect municipal taxes. Today, the existence of this building is not remembered, neither by scientists nor by citizens, and its importance, location and appearance are unknown. The building investigated, behind which the medieval façade of the “flour-weighing house” is hidden, is the Colomina Palace. In the investigation, its growth phases have been detected, and an idea of its structural organisation has been obtained. Research and investigation have been carried out by consulting historical, cartographic and archival material, together with advanced geomatics techniques, including close-range photogrammetry, terrestrial laser scanning and thermography. The fuse of colour and thermal imagery, together with point clouds and 3D models, help to visualise and check the different spatial transformations of the current “Colomina Palace”, adapting the sequence from medieval times into present. The methodology proposed in this study avoids the need to carry out destructive tests and the processing of permits, which speeds up decision-making and historical architectural reconstruction.

En 2023 se cumplió el 400 aniversario de la llegada a Madrid del príncipe de Gales, Carlos de Estuardo (1623), reivindicando su compromiso matrimonial con María de Austria. Este trabajo saca a la luz el relato inédito de D. Diego de Soto y Aguilar de dicha visita, el cual, desde su privilegiada posición, desvela todo lujo de detalles de muchos actos festivos celebrados en las calles y plazas de la villa de Madrid. Esta información permite profundizar en el estudio de la sociedad madrileña del siglo XVII a través de la trascendencia artística, social y urbana que estos acontecimientos tuvieron.