THE TRACING OF AN AMBULATORY IN THE ANGEL’S TOWER OF CUENCA CATHEDRAL (SPAIN)

Abstract

The architectural traces, which today we would call plans, helped the master mason to reflect all his ingenuity and inventiveness in order to “sell” his project to the corresponding sponsor, or to defend his position in the event of a lawsuit or conflict over the work in question. A church plan with three naves and an ambulatory could in principle refer to either of the two issues raised above and would not be a great mystery. However, if this layout is not located in a lawsuit or contract but is found incised on the walls of a construction to which, initially, it does not seem to be making reference, the plot becomes a little more complicated. In this last line is the outline of a church with three naves and ambulatory located on the wall of the Angel’s tower of the cathedral of Cuenca (Spain), which has caused great interest, as well as numerous doubts about its construction. When it was made, who made it and why, are the questions that have given rise to the greatest concern. This has often led to the need to seek the authorship of the design, or its relationship with a specific building already built, perhaps leaving aside the design itself. In this work, we will try to highlight precisely this drawing, without forgetting the theories that have been put forward in this respect but focusing our interest on the design itself.