Crossroads of South America.

Described as 'Nueva Granada'(1), the city port of Cartagena on the Caribbean coast of Colombia has many exciting tales to tell and wonderful glories to show.

For centuries it was the main gateway to South America and its history reads like a compilation of every buccaneering story one has ever read. Francis Drake features as a leading villain.

For nearly 300 years, from the mid-sixteenth century, the histories of Europe and of South America ebbed and flowed through this town, so that in reading its history one sees all the main events of the two continents reflected.

Spaniards arriving found quantities of gold artefacts of unsurpassed quality. They seized and took this treasure home in galleon loads, but they also exported a building aesthetic. Banister Fletcher refers to the 'Plateresque' of the Renaissance architecture in Spain. 'Plateresque' (platero = silversmith) from the minuteness of its detail and its similarity to silversmiths' work which itself received a great impetus through the import of precious metals from the New World'.(2)

The word should be 'Oroesque'. The influence is quite clear if one compares the decoration on the golden objects to be seen in museums throughout Colombia and that of sixteenth century Spanish architecture such as the Casa de Ayuntamiento in Seville.

Buildings in South America designed by the Spanish naturally reflected influences affecting Spain at the time -- the Spanish Renaissance, clearly larded with Moorish influences. Banister Fletcher at his fruitiest remarked that 'in the new Spanish Colonies of South America, the tropical climate was not unlike that of Spain, and thus favourable to the reproduction there of similar architectural features to those of Spain (small windows, flat roofs and courtyards). Under such climatic conditions the Baroque style was particularly acceptable to the voluptuous taste of people who basked under the tropical heat, and revelled in the luxuriant vegetation under the southern sun.'(3) The buildings in the fortified old town of Cartagena reflect all this and still exist, street after street, in an amazing state of preservation. The houses, built round courtyards, show clearly their Mediterranean antecedents, but elevational treatments are truly exceptional.

Balconies, screens, verandas, doorways and window openings occur in an amazing variety of designs, influenced by Spain, but developed along their own route. Comparing window design here with, for example, that at the Spanish University of Alcala de Henares, influences are clear, but they have been 'possessed', changed and developed. Designs are simpler, clearer but at the same time freer, more creative, more fun. There is less fussy decoration -- the ornateness of the Plateresque seems to have been entirely exported to the old world. Proportions are highly sophisticated and the detailing Palladian.

The Universidad de los Andes Escala in Bogota has produced a fabulous work showing measured drawings -- plans, elevations, sections, details and axonometrics -- of large numbers of these buildings, and of their detailing.(4) Scores of examples are illustrated including at least a dozen different balusters, doorways with studded doors and carved surrounds, and numerous 'ventana', the magical window screens.

This is Colonial architecture at its peak -- the country cousin who outshines the townsfolk. The variety, quantity, colour, and state of repair are impressive. Cartagena, as cultural and physical crossroads and port of entry, was rich and attracted talented designers. During the first two centuries of conquest all the great Spanish engineers visited it. The maritime element was fundamental too. Keeping the enemy out -- be he pirate, explorer or just the sea -- was a constant preoccupation. Is this remarkable state of preservation brought about by a combination of the construction material and of the quality of the air? The local timber (mangle) was used. In time it becomes incredibly strong, hardening to the consistency of steel. And, just as salt can spoil, it can also preserve, so perhaps here the sea air played its part as well.

Cartagena old town is a visual feast, a delicious succession of streets each more beautiful than the last, each balcony, fanlight or grille more enchanting than the one before. It is a banquet for the eyes and the heart and the sense of history, which engulfs and enwraps one in joyful appreciation.

(1)herazo, Donaldo Bossa Cartagena. Bogota, Fondo Cultural Cafetero, 1981.

(2)Fletcher, Banister A History of Architecture. London, Batsford Ltd, 1945.

(3)Ibid.

(4)Tellez, German, and Moure, Ernesto Arquitectura Domestica Cartagena des Indias. Bogota, Universidad de los Andes Escala/Corporacion Nacional de Turismo, 1982.