New Melilla

New Melilla
Melilla La Nueva
Ensanche
Interactive map of New Melilla
Country Spain
Autonomous City Melilla
Modernist expansion1901

New Melilla or Ensanche de Melilla is the expansion of the Spanish city of Melilla that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[1][2]

History

From the end of the 19th century, a period of splendor began in Melilla, creating a modern city. Among Spanish cities, Melilla is second only to Barcelona in its representation of modernist art. The city also has the greatest representation of modernism in Africa.[3][4]

More than a thousand historically registered buildings are found in the Historic-Artistic Complex of the City of Melilla, a Bien de Interés Cultural, or cultural property of Spain. The buildings are spread throughout the central expansion and its neighborhoods.

Many of the buildings are the work of a Melilla-based architect from the Barcelona School, Enrique Nieto. Nieto, a follower of the architect Lluis Domènech i Montaner produced an extensive body of modernist work. Nieto's floral modernist buildings are especially noteworthy. Other modernist architects in Melilla were Emilio Alzugaray Goicoechea and Tomás Moreno Lázaro. In the 1930s, Art Deco took hold in Melilla's architecture, and architects such as Francisco Hernanz Martínez and Lorenzo Ros Costa created spectacular buildings in the city's neighbourhoods.[5][6][7][8]

Exterior forts

Melilla's exterior forts are located at a considerable distance from each other. They were built in the second half of the 19th century in a neo-medieval style, an unusual architectural style for that era in Spain.[9]

They are built with local stone for the walls and bricks for the arches and vaults.[9] These obsolete fortification techniques, incapable of facing modern artillery, were sufficient because the Riffian Kabyle people, the enemy from which they had to defend Melilla, did not have artillery.

Historicisms

In Melilla, historic revival architecture is primarily found in public buildings and places of worship.

Eclecticisms

Eclecticism in Melilla mixes rigid structural elements with richer ornamentation, such as wrought iron and flying cornices.[10] The most notable practitioner of eclecticism in Melilla was Droctoveo Castañón, who primarily built private residences.[10]

Modernism

New Melilla's architecture is defined by modernism, a continuation of the Rococo style, with rich ornamentation, a variety of evocative shapes and varied colors.[11]

Enrique Nieto

Enrique Nieto is credited with introducing modernist architecture to Melilla.[10]

Emilio Alzugaray

Art Deco

The Art Deco Monumental Cinema Sport, constructed between 1930 and 1932, is the masterpiece of architect Lorenzo Ros y Costa.[12]

Enrique Nieto

Francisco Hernanz

Francisco Hernanz built in an aerodynamic art deco style, with sober lines and almost no decoration.[13]

Rationalism

Industrial architecture

Modern architecture

Municipal Cemetery of the Immaculate Conception

This is Melilla's main cemetery.[14] Its construction by commander of engineers Eligio Suza, contracted by Manuel Fernández Silvestre, began in 1890. The cemetery was inaugurated on January 1, 1892.[14] It is described as an open-air museum due to the many artistic and historic works it contains.[14]

Sculptural elements

Squares

Parks

Hernandez Park

Hernandez Park, built in 1902, is the most important park in Melilla. The trapezoid-shaped park was designed by engineer Vicente García del Campo and is located in Melilla's Plaza de España.[15]

Lobera Park

Lobera Park is named after its founder Cándido Lobera Girela—soldier, journalist, professor, and politician—who, as president of the Board of Arbitration, created this park to prevent the construction of low-cost housing on his land.[16]

Juan Carlos I Rey Forest Park

Agustin Jerez Park

References

  1. ↑ Bravo Nieto, Antonio (2008). Modernismo y art decó en la arquitectura de Melilla (Ediciones Bellaterra-UNED Melilla ed.). Barcelona : [Melilla]: Edicions Bellaterra; UNED-Melilla. ISBN 978-84-7290-428-6. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  2. ↑ Bravo Nieto, Antonio (2002). Melilla: guía histórico, artística y turística de Melilla (1a. ed.). León, España: Everest. ISBN 84-241-9300-8. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  3. ↑ "Conjunto del Ensanche Modernista de Melilla". Melilla Monumental (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  4. ↑ Costa, Tania (2 March 2023). "Fondo archivístico del mes: Memoria para el ensanche de Melilla. El nacimiento de una ciudad". El Faro de Melilla (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  5. ↑ Gallego Aranda, Salvador (1996). Enrique Nieto en Melilla: la ciudad proyectada. Granada: Servicio de Publ. de la Univ. de Granada. ISBN 9788433822611. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  6. ↑ Bravo Nieto, Antonio (1996). La construcción de una ciudad europea en el contexto norteafricano: arquitectos e ingenieros en la Melilla contemporánea (1. ed.). Melilla: Consejería de Cultura, Educación, Juventud y Deporte, Servicio de Publ. [u.a.] ISBN 84-87291-68-6. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  7. ↑ Bravo Nieto, Antonio (1997). La ciudad de Melilla y su autores: diccionario biográfico de arquitectos e ingenieros (finales del siglo XIX y primera mitad del XX) (1. ed.). Ciudad Autónoma de Melilla: Consejería de Cultura, Educación, Juventud y Deporte, Servicio de Publicaciones. ISBN 84-87291-81-3. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  8. ↑ Gallego Aranda, Salvador; Nieto, Enrique (2010). Enrique Nieto: un paseo por su arquitectura. Melilla: Fundación Melilla Ciudad Monumental. ISBN 978-84-96101-89-0. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  9. 1 2 Associatión de Universitarios Laborales de Cordoba (April 28, 2014). "Melilla: sus recintos amurallados (5ª entrega)". www.aulacor.es. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  10. 1 2 3 Fundación Melilla, Ciudad Monumental. "Sus elementos". Melilla Monumental (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  11. ↑ "Melilla". Turismo Melilla (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  12. ↑ Fundación Melilla Ciudad Monumental (2020-04-14). "Conociendo nuestro patrimonio Monumental Cine Sport (I)". Melilla Monumental (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  13. ↑ "Una exposición ensalza el proyecto de ensanche de las fortificaciones de Melilla del ingeniero militar Francisco Roldán y Vizcaíno - MelillaHoy". Melilla Hoy (in Spanish). 2 October 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  14. 1 2 3 "Ciudad Autónoma de Melilla - Cementerio de la Purísima Concepción". www.melilla.es. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  15. ↑ Morales Bautista, Joaquín (August 25, 2023). "El Parque Hernández, un jardín emblemático de Melilla" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  16. ↑ Fundación Melilla, Ciudad Monumental (2020-06-15). "Conociendo nuestro patrimonio Parque Lobera – Melilla Monumental". Monumental Melilla. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
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