Multidisciplinary Integrated Study of Saint Ildephonse's College, University of Alcalá (Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

This paper present a multidisciplinary study of the Saint Ildephonse's College, the first building of the University of Alcalá, founded in 1495 and declared World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 1998. During the last restoration of the building, carried out in 2011-2012, all the walls’ coatings were removed and the historical materials came out to light. The aims of the study were: to identify the different stages of the building’s history, supported by direct measuring and sampling; to understand the changes suffered by the building in the last five centuries; to formulate a feasible hypothesis of its initial configuration. The study integrated a stratigraphic study based on a photogrammetric survey, a morphological analysis of the masonry patterns, materials characterization, a metric analysis of the original remaining parts and an architectural assessment of the construction chronology. Material samples were taken from the walls of the College and the characterization results were put in discussion with published data, reviewing the historiography of the building. Four historical stages were identified, corresponding to: the original 15th century building and the 16th century stone façade; the construction of a clock tower and a granite cloister inside the central courtyard during the 17th century; the refurbishment works and change of use into a religious school in the 19th century; the return of the University in the 20th century. The analysis of the original building’s remaining parts allowed to propose a hypothesis of the original two-storey building constructed with rammed-earth and brick masonry, which was previously unknown. The same constructive pattern and metrics was also identified in the side wall of the University Chapel, which was built simultaneously to the College. The original walls did not have any brick-row between the rammed-earth boxes, which was commonly used in the area of Toledo. Instead, this constructive technique is related to the rammed earth constructions used in the area of Spanish-Islamic kingdom of Granada. The biography of Cardinal Cisneros could explain the use of this technique in the centre of Spain.