TITLE:
THE CITADEL OF VALENCIA. ORIGIN, EVOLUTION AND GRAPHIC ANALYSIS 

AUTHOR:
Santiago Lillo Giner

DIRECTOR:
Jorge Llopis Verdú

PROGRAM:
Architectonic patrimony: history, composition and graphic studies 
Department of Graphical Architectural Expression
UNIVERSITAT POLITÈCNICA DE VALÈNCIA

ABSTRACT:
The Casa de Armas, which occupied the northeastern vertex of the walled enclosure of 
Valencia, has constituted from his origins one of the enclaves strengthened of major relevancy 
of the city. Around the tower of L’ Esperó -one of the towers that took part  of the Christian 
wall– were built the elements that have been forming,  since the 16th century, a space 
destined to the custody of the weapon of the Generality and that later has been  object of 
numerous interventions. In the 18th century, with the arrival of the Bourbon dynasty, the use 
of the building changes to be used as a barrack. From this moment, the former House of 
Weapon happens to be called as The Citadel. In 1956, after the successive disappearance of 
some of his more typical elements, the set of buildings that integrate the barracks of the 
Citadel is demolished to start the construction of the buildings that today occupy the zone. 

The present work analyzes some key aspects for the knowledge of the building in it's set: the 
origins of the zone, his relation with the immediate surroundings, etc. In the same way, the 
evolutionary process of the military complex is studied, as well as the morphologic, 
constructive and stylistic characteristics that define it and it's relation with other contemporary 
constructions or others of the same authors. This evolutionary process has been structured 
around five stages that have characterized the morphology of the building in relation of the 
different actions carried out along his history. The different stages that have been considered 
are:  previous, formation, Renaissance, Bourbon and modern.