Urban Towers of the City of Segovia. A Comparative Silhouette Analysis

Abstract

Anton van den Wyngaerde was a sixteenth century Flemish landscape who was contracted by Philip II. In the year of 1562 he painted two prints of the city of Segovia. These prints displayed the skyline north and south of the city. This work about the analysis of the Segovia´s skyline compares engravings, lithographs and old photographs, all of them documents of the city´s history, with actual engravings and photographs. Many artists have left images taken from outdoor landscapes, including: Louis Meunier c.a. 1666, Day-Haghe 1838, Bichebois-Bayot 1844, Guesdon 1854, J. Laurent 1868-1872, Mariano Moreno 1900, Alois Beer 1906, Loty 1932-1936. Most prominent elements in the skyline of the city are the Cathedral, the Aqueduct and the Alcazar, but also require special attention urban towers of church steeples and towers of civil architecture built by noble families to reside there. Finally I propose to climb to the top of one of these towers to have the opportunity to see the visual effects that occur between them, and compare the transformations and original walled city and its surround-dings.