La reconstrucción del Santuario de la Virgen de la Cabeza en Andújar como modelo en la arquitectura española de posguerra (1941-1945)

Abstract

The reconstruction of the Sanctuary of «Virgen de la Cabeza» (1941-1945), once the bloody episode, that represented Spain’s Civil War, ended, it was carried out by the architect from Granada, Francisco Prieto-Moreno. Apart from the speed of implementation, when compared to other buildings that suffered a similar damage, as the same «Alcázar de Toledo», the project stands out for the application of criteria of unpublished scientific restoration in the national landscape of post-war architecture, more attentive to stylistic principles, as it happens in so many of the reconstructive process of European architecture after Second World War. The ideological approach of Franco’s regime, determined to trace the damage caused to the building, influenced the project executed, but Prieto-Moreno channeled it through the application of the principles of restoration of the Athens Charter (1931) learned from his teacher, Leopoldo Torres Balbas, and implemented by his restoring of «Patio de los Leones» in the Alhambra. He was precisely his successor in office as conservative architect of Granada Alhambra Palace in 1936. The same criteria were applied in the restoration of movable property, like the old Renaissance grille.