Castle-palace of “La Calahorra”, Granada: influence of climatic and architectural factors in differential deterioration of their stone masonries

Abstract

The castle-palace of La Calahorra is a historical building (6th century ) with a dual-function. The exterior is a castle-fortress of late-medieval style, built with rubbles and rough ashlars of a crystalline limestone of great hardness and strength. The interior is a Renaissance palace, made of micritic limestone and dolomitic sandstone ashlars, both stone materials are porous, soft and low strength. The entire building has an orangey colored due to an iron patina that stains its stone masonries as a result of wind action. There is a differential deterioration among its external and internal, depending on the type of stone used factories, the rainwater and wind action and the building defects detected. While the exterior stone is in good state of conservation, the interior stones shows some important deterioration processes , mainly the micritic limestone present in the ornamental and decorative areas of the central courtyard.

Keywords

• stone masonries
• differential deterioration
• environmental agents
• building defects