Caracterización comparada de los materiales pétreos en fortificaciones de México y España

Abstract

Military architecture is a cultural heritage that arises and develops between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, with an economic-mercantile purpose. The fortifications had the function of guaranteeing the stability of the colonial trade and of protecting the port commercial places from contraband, corso and piracy, which was practiced through the sea. The fortress of San Juan de Ulua-Veracruz, a commercial port in the Gulf of Mexico with transcendent and certain historical-cultural characteristics, one of the most important and renowned throughout the history of the American Continent. It is a colonial fortification of those that still remain in the route of the Caribbean, where many important events have taken place. The Peñíscola Castle built at the end of the 13th century is an urban fortress located on a small peninsula of the Mediterranean, on the east coast. In the highest part of the rock is preserved a medieval castle, is surrounded by a perimeter of walled enclosure realized in different stages. This work describes the investigation of the original stone construction materials, in order to propose an adequate conservation treatment in these two fortifications in Mexico and Spain. Analytical techniques of X-ray diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Image Analysis were used in order to know its punctual composition and based on the results of the analyzes performed, very important data were obtained to propose suitable treatments for its preservation.