The architecture of Gibraltar includes all human building within the modern borders of Gibraltar, from the Moorish period to the present day which has a notable history spanning over 800 years. Gibraltar, now a British Overseas Territory, was first conceived as a fortress by the Moors in 1160. Successive sieges spanning almost five centuries destroyed most of the town's earlier architectural features however, the composition of the streets within the walls of the Moorish Castle still reflects the urban pattern of the late medieval period. The various Mediterranean peoples who later made the Rock their home also left their mark on Gibraltar's urban landscape.
Today, Gibraltar's urban architecture is a hodge-podge of Mediterranean and British architecture surrounded by the remnants of massive fortifications.
History
editMoorish period
edit
The Rock of Gibraltar was first conceived as a fortress by the Moors well after they disembarked here on 27 April 711 as Tarik ibn Ziyad commanded their conquest of Iberia.[1]
There is no evidence of a permanent settlement having been built in Gibraltar until the Almohad caliph Abd al-Mu'min ordered the construction of a fortified city on 19 March 1160, to be called the Madinat al-Fath (the "City of Victory"). Abd al-Mu'min charged two of the most important architects of the day with the task of building his City of Victory.[2] Al-Hajj Ya'is of Málaga, a renowned mathematician, was assisted by Ahmad ibn Baso, an experienced architect. The caliph's order dictated that the city should include a mosque, several palaces for himself and his sons, and reservoirs to provide a supply of water. It was to be protected by a "wall of fine build" with a single city gate known as the Bab al-Fath (English: Gate of Victory) facing towards the isthmus connecting Gibraltar with Spain. A harbour was also to be constructed, and windmills were to be built on the Rock.[3]
Following the Fourth Siege of Gibraltar in the summer of 1333, the then Marinid sultan Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman of Fez ordered the refortification of Gibraltar "with strong walls as a halo surrounds the crescent moon".[2]
Spanish period
editMost of the Moorish and early Spanish architecture which developed on the Rock during the four hundred years, between the 11th and 15th centuries, was destroyed by the Spanish and Moorish besiegers who took turns attempting to regain control of the Rock during the first ten sieges of Gibraltar. The city within the fortress walls however, still reflects the urban pattern of the late medieval period.[4]
When King Ferdinand IV of Castile took Gibraltar in 1309, driving the Moorish troops back across the Strait of Gibraltar to Africa,[5] he converted a small mosque which had been constructed at the beginning of the 14th century in the area of Europa Point into a Christian shrine (now the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe) during what would be the first (and brief) Spanish period.[6][5][7]
The Moors recaptured Gibraltar 24 years later in 1333 and held it for just over a century. On 20 August 1462, on St. Bernard of Clairvaux's feast day, King Henry IV of Castile recaptured the Rock as part of the Reconquista. The King had a large chapel built at right angles to the mosque's eastern wall and the whole complex became known as the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe (Spanish: Ermita de la Virgen de Europa), restoring the devotion to Our Lady of Europe initiated by his grandfather, Ferdinand; once again transforming the ancient mosque into a Christian shrine.[5]
Another mosque had been built by the Moors in the city centre which was also later converted by the Spanish into a Catholic church (now the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned).[2]
Following the Reconquista, friars from the Franciscan order established a presence in the city and constructed a friary and church there. Although the other two churches already existed – the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned and the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe – the Franciscans' church, next door to the friary, was the first wholly purpose-built church to be built in Gibraltar.[8]
British period
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A 1736 plan of the city shows little change when compared to Luis Bravo de Acuña's 1627 Plan of Gibraltar, although some damage caused by Anglo-Dutch bombardment during the 1704 capture of Gibraltar and subsequent shelling from the 1704-05 and 1727 Spanish sieges, is evident.[4]
Conversion of most Spanish religious buildings into military installations...
The British continued to re-purpose Gibraltar's places of worship as most of the Spanish churches were converted into military stores for use by the garrison. Francis Carter wrote in 1771: "The Church of the Convent is kept open for Divine Service, and the only one in the town, all other chapels and places of worship having been turned into storehouses to the great scandal of the Spanish and inconvenience of the Protestants."[9]
Influx of Mediterranean immigrants having an impact on the local architecture...
Gibraltar's architecture had created a balance between form and function. Following the end of World War II, Gibraltarians were slowly being repatriated to the Rock after they had been evacuated to Morocco, the United Kingdom, Madeira and Jamaica. British architect Robert Atkinson who was known for his Art Deco style, designed buildings for the Government of Gibraltar to rehouse the repatriated Gibraltarians. However, these buildings were not well regarded.[10]
Vernacular architecture
editTo the untrained visitor, Gibraltar's vernacular architecture could easily be mistaken for that of a comparable town in the northern Italian region of Liguria. However, a closer look at the features of many buildings suggest other, more diverse, origins.[11] These include inter alia, Georgian timber sash windows, Genoese-style louvered timber shutters, Portuguese-style tiled façades, Regency ironwork balconies and rain gutters, Andalusian-style pantile ceramic roof tiles, verandas and inner patios, flat roofs a la catalana, Victorian ogee cornices and heavy British military-inspired carved keystones, arched stone doorways and other stonework.[12][11]
References
edit- ^ Hills 1974, p. 23.
- ^ a b c Fa & Finlayson 2006, p. 11.
- ^ Hills 1974, p. 38.
- ^ a b Sanguinetti 1993, p. 3.
- ^ a b c "A Short History of the Shrine", Diocese of Gibraltar
- ^ FOGHS Newsletter No 73, Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society, August 2005, page 11
- ^ Hills 1974, p. 86.
- ^ Warwick, Sandra. The King's Chapel Gibraltar: A Brief History. King's Chapel Gibraltar. p. 1.
- ^ Yale, R. (1948). A Story in Stone: A History of The King's Chapel Gibraltar. Portsmouth: W.H. Barrell. p. 15.
- ^ Paul Spencer-Longhurst, ‘Atkinson, Robert (1883–1952)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2007 accessed 11 June 2013
- ^ a b Chipulina 2012.
- ^ Sanguinetti 1993, p. 5.
Bibliography
edit- Hills, George (1974). Rock of Contention: A history of Gibraltar. London: Robert Hale & Company. ISBN 0-7091-4352-4.
- Fa, Darren; Finlayson, Clive (2006). The Fortifications of Gibraltar. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84603-016-1.
- Sanguinetti FRIBA, Mario L. (1993). "Gibraltar's Architecture". Gibraltar Heritage Journal. 1: 3–5. ISBN 0-948466-31-6.
- Chipulina, Neville (2012). "1784 - Giovanni Maria Boschetti". The People of Gibraltar. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
