Architecture Militaire

The ancient castle of Rosalcazar is a military architecture that is part of the Oran’s defensive system, in Algeria. His structure was built in the sixteenth century by Diego de Vera, and it reflects the approaches
of the Spanish fortification of the reign of Ferdinand the Catholic. These constructions were increased with later alterations, until their consolidation during the term of the governor and engineer Juan Martín
Zermeño. The architectural ensemble represented an interesting evolution of the Spanish fortification since the beginning of the sixteenth century until the middle of the eighteenth century, preserving each
extension of the elements of the prior period that they are shown in the heritage ensemble of maximum interest.

Rapport de recherche -- Version abrégée & Rapport provisoire sur l’état de conservation / Kasbah de Tanger (Place du Méchoir) – Sous-sol de la Qal‘a al-Bāshā ‘Alī b. ‘Abd Allāh al-Rīfī (« Palais Vidal », « Tour Vidal », « Donjon du Pasha Ali Ben Abdellah »). //

(Note: File re-uploaded. Research content unchanged. We needed to insert a bio for Miguel Ruiz Rueda, the project photographer, which arrived after the time-window when the Report was scheduled to get submitted to the Moroccan authorities. ) //

    By 2013 detailed structural hypotheses were available for this particular area of the Tangier Kasbah, based on all the available iconography and on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century military engineering plans, plus numerous archival sources. The historic-plan-to-GIS-grid correlation was successful beyond expectations and has now proved, in this particular zone, to be over 90% valid. What we have found, exactly where we expected, are the over 60% intact and well preserved remains of the open artillery casemate belonging to the Portuguese Bastion of S. João (a classic demi-bastion, one of the three original bastions of the sixteenth-century Citadel of Tangier), completed in 1566-67. A preliminary survey of the underground structures has been carried out, the site documentation (with photographic coverage) is nearly complete (thanks to Jordi Mas Garriga and Miguel Ruiz Rueda (photographer), our preliminary 3D modelling is done, and the recommendations for preservation and possible transformation into exhibit space are being submitted. Besides documenting rigorously the tangible remains of the bastion's artillery casemate and munitions magazine, the Report seeks to dispel yet again the entirely unfounded myths that surround Tangier's "Demeure Vidal-Qasbah" -- a very important historic structure unfortunately still erroneously labelled "York Castle" but which, contrary to persistent journalistic coverage, never had anything to do at all with the Portuguese "Castelo Novo" of Tangier (the "York Castle" of the English period), was not built by the Portuguese in the late fifteenth century, and was never an "un ancien château Portugais-Mauresque".