Evolució constructiva de la Catedral de Mallorca. Història , tècniques i materials en els llibres de fàbrica. (1570-1630)

Abstract

Introduction The publication of some factory books of the Cathedral of Mallorca, corresponding to its first constructive phase, with a historical analysis, statistical and comparative studies, make it possible for scholars to make a first contact of how the beginnings of the work were carried out, Up to approximately, the Portal del Mar on one side and the Almoina on the other. The purpose of this thesis is a continuity study but introducing a more technical analysis, while historical, taking advantage of the doctoral research and academic trajectory. The research has two differentiated parts: A first stage of history that comprises from the beginning of the Cathedral to almost half, carried out in the form of a critical synthesis of the constructive elements from historiography data. The second stage, of more unpublished research, includes the last half of the construction of the Cathedral, especially as of 1570. Content of the investigation The investigation focuses exhaustively, both in constructive chronology and in sponsorship, in the twelve vaults corresponding to the last four sections built in the Cathedral. The work is also about the completion of the works of the old main facade. This core of the research is accompanied by a study of the constructive history of the Cathedral, as a conductive thread necessary to understand the last constructive phase of the building and which will end four hundred years of work until the basic structure of the church is completed. Although historical sources of history are historiography, and those of completion are largely the result of extensive archival research, a similar pattern is used to explain, in a technical and historical manner, a constructive process that is very dilated in time. It will progressively contribute new spaces of worship in the building and that will shape it structurally. The main part of this work, which as we have said focuses primarily on the completion of the second and last half of the Cathedral, including a façade, provides relevant facts and hypotheses, above all, due to the absence of systematic investigations in this last space. The first part is fertile in hypothesis, especially the dissertation on the architectural features of the ancient mosque, always done cautiously and with many reservations. The coexistence of the old building with the new as well as the entire construction process of the Middle Ages, is analysed from the point of view of the knowledge of the constructive technique, covered by the numerous historical documentation published. Finally, the intermediate stage between the laying of worship of the first four sections and the covering of the last four, where the constructive progression was very slow, was studied, but which had a major importance in the definition of the whole Cathedral. A second part of the investigation, no less important than the first one, focuses on the materials and auxiliary resources used in the completion of the Cathedral in the Modern Age. It is a necessary element to understand, on the one hand, the continuation of the initial constructive tradition of the building, but on the other, it is used to establish a series of significant differences throughout the construction process as regards the origin, manufacture and transport of materials. Conclusions The study is a methodological symbiosis of constructive technique and historical analysis within the framework of the work - the Factory - of the largest religious building of Gothic affiliation existing in Palma de Mallorca. In addition, it introduces precise milestones in some physical places of the work and offers the reader a continuous constructive process of the building from its beginnings until its completion, a key to being able to position ourselves within the space and time of the Cathedral of Santa Maria de Mallorca.