Palacio de los duques de Uceda

Palacio de los Duques de Uceda

MUSIC

Bach Prelude cello suite:

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

When “El Palacio de los duques de Uceda” was build, Philip III was ruling and his son Philip IV, the future king was 6. Philip II, the father of Philip III died in 1598. In 1609, two years before the building was build, Philip III expelled the Moriscos.

WHO WAS THE ARCHITECT?

The building was built by different architects. Historians are not sure who was its architect, but some historians think that was built by the famous architect Francisco de Mora, but others think that was Alonso de Trujillo.

SPONSOR

It was sponsored by Cristóbal Gómez de Sandoval, first duke of Uceda.

BULDING DATE

The year of it’s construction is 1611.

ORIGINAL AND CURRENT FUNCTION

 

Current function

Now a days it works as the Capitanía general (headquarters of a military district) which shares the building with the State Council

Original function

When Felipe V ruled, in the XVIII century, the Palacio de Uceda was used as the headquarters of the total council, but with time, they disappeared.

The Palacio de Uceda served as the seat of the Royal Councils, which eventually disappeared. At the time, in addition to the main building, the ensemble covered a convent of Bernard nuns founded by the same Duke of Uceda, which today only remains the Church of the Sacrament.

WHAT IS THE ARTISTIC STYLE OF THIS BUILDING?

This palace is one of the most characteristic examples of the palatial architecture in the 17th century in Madrid.

MAIN ARCHITECTURAL AND DECORATIVE ELEMENTS

It’s one of the most characteristic examples of the palace architecture from the XVII in Madrid.

It’s façades are very different one from each other, because of the slope of the terrain where it is placed: The façade in front of the Plaza mayor shows three floors and some portals with majestic access and the back façade of the Pretil de los Consejos shows five floors and some openings that could be used as service doors.

It has an easy morphology and it was built with stone and brick. It has a rectangular plan and inside, there are two patios of different size.

The most noted things are the two portals, which are flanked by two doric columns, the noble coat of arms of the façades and the alternation of the curved and triangular pediments in their upper floors.

Inside the palace, on the first floor, there is the old library, the principal office of the president and of the general secretary also known as the Hall of Letrados. Also located on the first floor is the session room, where the state council holds meetings and ceremonies for permanent commissions.

STATE OF CONSERVATION AND RESTORATIONS CARRIED

In 1901, it suffer a reformation with the motive of the adequation of the Bailén Street for the union of the viaduct. During the 20th century the palace continues becoming the headquarters of the Consejo de Estado.

GEOLOGICAL ASPECTS:

Slate:

 

 

It  is a metamorphic rock which suffered low metamorphism. Its original material is fine clay. 

Contains abundant quartz and small amounts of feldspar, calcite, pyrite, hematite, and other minerals.

They used it for the roof of the Palace, because when the king Philip II went to Germany and Flanders, he could appreciate that most of the roofs of the houses from there were made of slate, and he afirmate that “they were good, because they do not weight like lead, serve for snow without being hot in summer and are lucid, beautiful and give harshness to the buildings”. So he ordered to some architects from all Europe, that worked with slate, to come to Spain for carrying out the charges that ordered Philip II. The architects were installed in Bernardos, Segovia, from where they would brought the slate.

The slate was first dismantled to remove the sterile, to get the real resort area, which really takes advantage.
With diamond wires and perforations, cuts are made and the extraction process begins: with a hammer they are broken in smaller thicknesses and with backhoe excavators are extracted the smaller blocks that are transported to sawing ships and are left to the measure before the end depending on the market. These blocks are exfoliated and worked on. Then the material would be ready for commercialization.

Brick:

 

 

The process of manufacturing of bricks from clay involves preparation of clay, molding and then drying and burning of bricks. The bricks are building materials which are generally available as rectangular blocks. The bricks do not require any dressing and brick laying is very simple compared to stone masonry.

 

 Is made up of clay and the composition of the clay is kaolin, slate, feldspar, sodium dioxide, limestone, dolomite, calcium sulphate, silica, alumina, iron oxide, pyrite and water.

Boral Bricks are the types of bricks that were created the “old-fashioned way,” formed in a sand-dusted wooden box used in buildings. The solid bricks feature slight irregularities and a softer shape than mimics from the 17th century look.

Clay is obtained in quarries where it is parked for a long time. After a year, the clay is transported to the feeder box, initiating in this the first stage and later will be used in the manufacturing process. The clay by means of a  conveyor belt is raised to a kneader, where it is freed of impurities. Then, it passes to the rotofilter, where by means of steel rollers the pellets are formed and the metallic impurities are removed. Finally the clay is deposited in silos.

Granite:

 

 

It has been used extensively in construction for many years due to the resistance of the material and its resistance to erosion. In the past, the work with granite was considered the most difficult of all.

It is a light-colored igneous rock with grains large enough to be visible with the unaided eye. Granite is composed mainly of quartz and feldspar with minor amounts of mica, amphiboles, and other minerals. This mineral composition usually gives granite a red, pink, gray, or white color with dark mineral grains visible throughout the rock.

 

 

Legendarily, it was known as the “Piedra Berroqueña”. In the XVIII, a lot of the granite obtained from the quarries of Alpedrete, Cadalso de los Vidrios, Colmenar Viejo y Zarzalejo was used for the construction of many buildings, such as La plaza Mayor, and the Puerta de Alcalá. We are not sure from what quarry they got the granite for this palace, but we suppose that it could come from those quarries.

It is formed when hot magma or liquid rock is pushed up from deep within the Earth and forced into the overlying rock in a process known as intrusion. It is then cooled and hardened and later is exposed as granite.

ALTERATIONS THAT THE MATERIALS HAVE SUFFERED

In 1679, the architect Felipe Sánchez restored the building.

In 1901, due to the reorganization of Street Bailén, it was necessary to reform the building.

In 1960, another important reform was carried out in the building in order to recover its original appearance, returning the clarity to the granite in cornices, imposts, bays, façades, columns, and to the bricks in the walls of the facade.

VIDEO

360 PICTURE

AUTHORS

Beatriz Torres, Marina López, Pedro Olmos, Sebastian Bernal and Carlos García

Webliography

http://www.miradormadrid.com/palacio-de-los-duques-de-uceda/

http://www.rutaspangea.com/palacio-del-duque-de-uceda-o-palacio-de-los-consejos/

http://www.miradormadrid.com/palacio-de-los-duques-de-uceda/

http://geology.com/rocks/slate.shtml

http://digital-desert.com/arch-rock/the-formation-of-granite.html

http://www.geovirtual2.cl/geologiageneral/ggcap04b.htm

http://www.britannica.com/science/slate-geology

http://www.mascoalba.com/public/fotocast402.htm

https://flexiblelearning.auckland.ac.nz/rocks_minerals/rocks/limestone.html

http://www.graymont.com/en/markets/construction/building/mortar-applications/history-lime-mortar

http://www.naturpiedra.com/es/historia/

http://tecnicagranito.com/proceso.php?p=1

http://pendientedemigracion.ucm.es/info/diciex/programas/rutageologica/rutageologicaaustrias.pdf

Construccion con granito

http://www.leonoticias.com/especiales/pizarras/201611/15/como-extrae-pizarra-20161115193305.html

https://www.quiminet.com/articulos/como-se-extrae-la-piedra-pomez-2576727.htm

http://bloquescando.com/proceso-de-fabricacion-del-ladrillo/

http://www.miradormadrid.com/casa-de-cisneros-en-la-plaza-de-la-villa/

http://www.solancis.com/es/canteras/extraccion

http://www.mascoalba.com/public/fotocast402.htm

http://josesanpepe.blogspot.com.es/2012/08/calle-mayor.html

https://www.madrimasd.org/cienciaysociedad/patrimonio/rutas/geomonumentales/rutas/canteras/calizas.asp?pest=3