A pyramidal kitchen vault in a Gothic-Renaissance palace. Oliva, Valencia, Spain

Abstract

The splendid Gothic-Renaissance palace is almost completely in ruin, except for a few remains. However, thanks to the Hispanic Society of America important graphic and photographic documentation has been preserved, making it possible to evoke its architecture. This was drawn up by Danish architect Egil Fischer and collaborators in the form of survey drawings from the 1918 deconstruction process. The plan of the main floor shows the situation of the kitchen. Moreover, one of Fischer's notebooks includes a complete sketch of this room with the plan, elevation, section, and dimensions. It shows the interesting quadrangular vault, squinches and wide pyramidal chimney, as they were in the early 20th century. This space has disappeared completely following the complete destruction of the main floor. Research based on the drawings makes it possible to virtually reconstruct the vault in its original condition, dating back to the late Gothic period. To do so, an architectural methodology is developed to further examine constructive aspects. This methodology is applied to the few similar cases which still remain as an original type which is both undervalued and under-researched.