Una torre en la muralla de Biar. Consolidación y recuperación de una imagen urbana

Abstract

[EN] The wall of Biar goes around the historical part of the city and connects it with the castle at the top of the hill. This urban wall was comprised by the city wall and a walk wall, which were protected by a battlement and a series of towers. Currently, the urban wall has been swallowed by changes in the area. Internal edifications to the city wall have progressively taken over the wall and, in its outside part, an area as wide as the towers has been occupied, which has eventually set up the front part of Torreta street. The Tower of Jesus is part of this defensive set that nowadays is almost invisible. Before its restoration, the tower was in an unfortunate state of abandonment and deterioration. Large cracks in its masonry warned of its immediate collapse. After its defensive use, it was transformed and joined to more modern neighboring buildings. Removed walls, deformed gaps and variations in the roof concealed its past as it went unnoticed and passed as another house on the street. Only the traces in its walls exposed its history. The intervention process for its recovery began with a thorough, formal, dimensional and technical study, to subsequently propose its restoration and the choice of contiguous elements that had to be eliminated to show a recognizable set. Also, a new way of walking and using it was put forward. During the intervention, several objectives were considered. In addition to the most obvious ones, such as the structural consolidation that would prevent its eventual collapse, recovering its historical image and showing the key facts that would lead to interpreting its past and discovering its secrets. Besides describing in detail the restoration process in its entirety, this text aims to present the issues that were raised during the intervention and to consider those reasons behind all the decisions that were made.