Heritage Replacements: From Convent to Square and to Contemporary Architecture - Conventual Urban Transformations in Andalusian Cities

Abstract

In Andalusia (Spain), the conventual typology has shaped the urban centers of its cities following a process of implementation, which affects the traffic and internal organization of the city. In the mid-19th century, the confiscations led to the expropriation, demolition, and disappearance of a large part of their monastic spaces. The starting situations (size of cities, socioeconomic state in the 19th century or characteristics of the conventual foundations) gave rise to diverse urban responses. The bourgeoisie's need to "modernize" the cities led to the appearance of squares and the opening of new roads. On other occasions, the old factories were reused for the installation of new uses (prisons, barracks, markets, etc.), or their plots were used for new construction. Τhe case of Plaza Nueva in Seville from the demolition of the San Francisco Convent is studied. Also, together with other Andalusian examples, such as the San Antonio de Padua Convent in El Puerto, the current Plaza Isaac Peral and Los Descalzos Convent in Écija. The case of this last city constitutes the counterpoint in the convent reuse, without generating relevant urban spaces. Once again, the Plaza Nueva, due to its condition of the centrality of the Andalusian capital, constitutes the maximum exponent of this urban and symbolic revision. The economic power put into practice its urban capacity, again through architecture. It will finance new buildings as representative images of their brands, companies, and institutions. The testimonies of the convent activity, the new spaces emerged from the disentailment actions and their new contemporary symbols constitute sequential fragments of urban history. They are necessary for the cities for their valuation and heritage understanding. The study of these Andalusian cases can serve as a reference for the detection of similar processes in the European Mediterranean frame.

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