REHABILITATION OF THE WATCHTOWERS OF MONTJUÏC CASTLE

The Castle of Montjuïc is a monument declared “cultural asset of national interest” and is part of the catalog of the Special Plan of the Architectural Heritage of Barcelona, with a cataloging level A, the maximum provided by law.

It is an old military fortress, whose role has been important in several episodes of history.

The restored buildings that currently constitute the central body of the castle are attributed to a major reform carried out in the middle of the 18th century. At the end of the 19th century, it began to be used as a prison; subsequently, it fell into disuse and in 1960 it was ceded to the city of Barcelona.

Due to various damages and detachments detected in the four watchtowers on the roof of the castle’s armory, it is necessary to remove the different iron staples between the stone blocks that make them up. These were placed, presumably, as a fastening element to counteract the thrust and vibrations produced by the firing of the cannons.

The entity BIMSA entrusts Landem with the management of the execution of the rehabilitation works for the four towers.

Unique characteristics

In order to disassemble the iron staples joining the beams, a meticulous procedure of identification of each beam has been followed. Each block was then placed on a pallet, sorted by orientation, row and number to facilitate later assembly.

Once the rock grafts were carried out or in the most affected ash trees, the towers were rebuilt, replacing the existing iron staples with new titanium ones.

Finally, restoration work has been carried out on the rest of the small imperfections detected.