Balconies for the Municipalities: Public Architecture and Visual Performance of Power in Early Modern Castile.

Abstract

Th roughout the sixteenth century, in accordance with their status as rulers of the city, the members of the Castilian municipalities sought to establish their own buildings and balconies in the new urban centers, from where they could show themselves with the appropiate decorum on the occasion of public events and celebrations. In addition to the city halls and other civic architecture, adapted in their façades for this role as mirador or overlook, a new type of public buildings, the balconies of the city and casas de miradores, also appeared by then to accommodate the municipal governments and to visually emphasize their power.

Durante el siglo XVI, conforme a su relevante protagonismo como gobernantes de la ciudad, los concejos municipales castellanos buscaron dotarse de sus propias edificaciones y balcones en los nuevos centros urbanos desde los que mostrarse con decoro en los actos y celebraciones públicas. Junto con las propias casas consistoriales y otros equipamientos públicos, acondicionados en sus fachadas para esta función de mirador, surge también entonces una nueva tipología edificia, la de balcones de la ciudad y casas de miradores, destinada exclusivamente a acomodar a las autoridades municipales y enfatizar visualmente su poder.