Archaeology of hidden architecture: the case of the architectural complex of San Martín Pinario de Santiago de Compostela

Abstract

This article is the result of research work that began in 2003 as a planimetric survey project of the architectural complex of San Martín Pinario and ended in 2021 as an archaeological study of its present and past architecture. Although the research was undertaken with the fundamental objective of documenting in a graphic way, for the first time and in an exhaustive way, the entirety of the Monastery, the field work uncovered the existence of a hidden architecture that could only be revealed through the indepth study of its more unique elements, such as the crypt under the main altar, whose access had been sealed, or the under-roof spaces of the Cloister of the Offices. A study that could only be carried out efficiently if done so within the framework of an integrative discipline such as the archaeology of architecture, understood in its broadest sense.

Keywords

• arquitectura
• arqueología
• levantamiento gráfico
• san martín pinario