Montjuïc Castle

Montjuïc Castle, as it has survived to this day, is largely the result of the reform of the military engineer Juan Martín Cermeño (1699/1700-1773), designed in 1751 and executed between 1753 and 1779. This improvement, whose objective was to complete the defensive structure of the fortress, involved the demolition of part of the old castle, preserving the improvements made during the time of Viceroy Velasco, at the end of the s. XVII and the materialization of new buildings on an irregular trapezoidal plan adapted to the topography of the mountain, with four bastions at the ends, a moat, and a perimeter-covered path. The figure of Cermeño is a paradigm of the rise of the role of the military engineer, linked to the design and urban transformation of the country's large squares throughout the 18th century. Barcelona was an example of this fact thanks to the royal engineer Prosper de Verboom, who built the Citadel designed by Cermeño and carried out the demolition of a large part of the Ribera neighborhood and the creation of the Barceloneta, among others. Beyond Montjuïc Castle, Cermeño devoted himself to following and perfecting the system of star fortifications devised by the French engineer Sébastien Le Preste (1633-1707), lord of Vauban.