Trabajos de documentación de la Casa-Hospital de la Vera Cruz de San Juan, Villalón de Campos

Abstract

The House-Hospital of the “Vera Cruz de San Juan” brotherhood in Villalón de Campos, Spain, is a small building, example of the civil baroque architecture from the 18th century. It currently has no use, but it is in an acceptable state of preservation. As a result, the local government has taken the initiative of rehabilitating it and turning it to an Institute of Traditional Architecture.

It has 2 floors. The wood stud of the portico on the ground floor helps to define the public urban space of Plaza de San Juan where, during the Middle Ages, the market used to take place. The main body is built in mixed walls of rammed earth with brick pilasters and 3 rows brick reinforcements, while the interior partition walls are built in adobe with timber framework. The roof structure is made with wood, with the system “par e hilera” and brace. It seems like the present building was built over a previous one. For this reason, it cannot be excluded that certain areas trace back to the middle of the 15th Century or beginning of the sixteenth, when the first brotherhoods of the “Vera Cruz” or the True Cross began to spread around Spain.

The results achieved show the great value of the traditional construction systems and the efficiency and durability of earth building techniques, in a way that have allowed the continuity of the building over the course of centuries. This work will be used to achieve the implementation of the conservation and restoration project.