What are the MONTEAS ?. The hand carving over granite pieces for the arches, was based on the use of life-sized models leading to the stone block itself. Drawing life-sized pieces is essential to shape the different parts of the arches. The resulting drawings are known as “drawn arches”.
The development of the construction work required the so-called drawn arches to be located in an accesible place near the work, and thus indelible.
Therefore, the details were engraved with the help of a chilsel on the stone walls and also on the surface of finished parts, being removed with the completion of the construction works.
Consequently, having found these drawn arches is not a common thing, although some of them have luckily remained up to the present day. The study of these pieces has allowed us to learn more facts about the old building systems. Among those that have been preserved, we could highlight a couple of them which are based at our school Colegio de Nª Sª de la Antigua: one can be found beneath the monumental staircase and the other one over one of the walls of the Main Cloister.
As stated before, our school is home to a couple of drawn arches: one beneath the monumental staircase and another one over one of the walls of the Main Cloister.
For further information, you can check the “Documentation” section of this website.
