Due to the conflicts that existed among the kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages, the territories of al-Andalus were protected with defensive architecture that played an influential role on the landscape. The development of these fortresses was necessarily linked to water, either because of the strategic control of a hydraulic resource or because of the need to provide to inaccessible places, as it is often the case of the emplacement of these constructions. The study of their implantation in the territory and the hydraulic elements that they preserve has revealed quite diverse systems of water supply. This paper presents the comprehensive overview that emerged after verifying that many of the existing cisterns, rather than being autonomous and isolated elements, as has often been considered, are strongly related to the organization and development of the fortresses, sometimes located at the end of complex and advanced hydraulic networks, closely linked to the topography of each place. This study is devoted to the water supply systems of some of the most significant fortresses in the last territories of al-Andalus, corresponding to the Nasrid kingdom of Granada (1238–1492).

The Tower of Comares in danger of collapse. Affections in the most significant structure of the Alhambra during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuriesThis article develops a research on the outside layout of the Tower of Comares in the Alhambra (Granada), studying its transformations. It is focused on the interventions that took place at the most critical moment in its history. Between the last decades of the sixteenth century and the first ones of the seventeenth century, its general state of abandonment, the explosion of a nearby powder mill and the bad restauration practices applied in some cases, brought it to its structural limits, threatening its ruin. This process could fortunately be reversed after several technical reports on its injuries and actual conservation estate. If neglected, it would have led to the collapse of this paradigmatic example of the Nasrid regal defensive architecture.

This paper discusses the main bioclimatic features of three of the most representative palaces in the Alhambra: Comares, Lions and, in particular, the Alijares Palace (Qaṣr al-Dishār). Bioclimatic features in medieval architecture were often shaped through contact with earlier models – in the case of Naṣrid architecture (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries), through the Andalusi tradition. Control of climatic factors in a building, and the provision of additional protection to its inhabitants, might be achieved by means of walls of rammed earth, adobe, bricks or stone; other important features include orientation, the size of rooms, the use of shade, distribution of air from the exterior to the courtyard, ventilation and natural cooling.

The Islamic Nasrid kingdom of Granada occupied the mountainous areas of the southeastern area of the Iberian Peninsula. There, a natural border was established between the Nasrid kingdom and the Christian kingdom of Castile from 1232 to 1492. To control this frontier and establish visual communication between it and the Nasrid center at the Alhambra citadel, an extensive network of watchtowers and defensive towers was constructed. Studies have been done of individual towers, but no comparative study has been undertaken of all of them. Graphic, homogenous, and exhaustively planimetric documentation would bring together existing information on the majority of them and enable comparative analysis. For this reason, this work conducts systematic architectural surveys of all these military structures, using photogrammetry. In addition to studying the construction typology and techniques, the structural capacity of these towers has been analyzed. It examines how they have been affected by human and natural destructive forces, especially earthquakes, which are common in eastern Andalusia. Although all the historical military architecture is protected by the Spanish and Andalusian Heritage laws, many of these medieval towers and their cultural landscapes are in severe risk. The towers are being studied as individual specimens (emphasizing their differences) and as a unit in a typological group (looking for similarities and unifying characteristics). New technologies for Information and Communication are being used in order to disseminate the results among specialists and to make them available to the general public. Guidelines for restoration projects are also being formulated from the cases analyzed.

The Kingdom of Granada occupied the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula, what today would be the current Spanish provinces of Granada, Malaga and Almeria. Having succeeded the Nasrid kingdom of Granada (1238–1492), it remained a geographical and administrative unit until 1834, defended from the advancement of Castilian troops by means of a large network of watchtowers located principally along its inland border. Following the Castilian conquest of Granada, the extensive coastline was also strengthened with a network of towers and fortifications that were progressively adapted to house artillery. A technical survey focusing on the characteristics of their geometrics and construction, as well as their performance in a series of non-destructive tests, such as ambient vibration testing, was undertaken to study the towers’ mechanical strength against both gravitational and seismic loads. The results propose a numerical estimate that defines the fundamental frequency of this type of structure, which in turn can be used to approximate the mechanical properties of the masonry. Such a precise definition based on objective data enables accurate and rigorous numerical analysis of this defensive architecture, thus reducing uncertainties. Furthermore, slenderness is found to be a relevant parameter for adjusting fundamental frequency and for analysing the towers’ historical evolution, enabling their initial height and number of levels to be estimated.

En este artículo se aborda el análisis de los restos conservados del castillo de La Peña o fortaleza Alta de Martos (Jaén), importante yacimiento arqueológico que presenta estructuras emergentes de envergadura. Constituyó el castillo y sede principal del maestre de la Orden de Calatrava en la encomienda de Martos, territorio fronterizo con el reino nazarí de Granada entre los siglos XIII y XV, hasta que esta fortaleza fue abandonada en el siglo XVI. Además de la revisión crítica de la documentación existente sobre este singular ejemplo de arquitectura defensiva medieval, para realizar este análisis ha resultado fundamental el trabajo de campo y la elaboración de la planimetría completa y actualizada de las estructuras conservadas. Los resultados alcanzados en esta investigación arqueológica suponen un avance importante en el conocimiento de este Bien Patrimonial, y aportan nuevos datos que por ahora eran desconocidos o no se habían planteado. La documentación generada constituye la base para las intervenciones de restauración científica en este yacimiento.