English
Wall and Castle
Azemmour [Azamor], North Africa, Marocco
Military Architecture
The issue surrounding the execution of the cutting in Azemmour had been in dispute from early days, based on the irregularity of supplies by sea due to the silting up of the river mouth. The reduction of the defensible perimeter was the main decision that was made on a short term. The process of the cutting would drag on until 1520 and would be expressed in two fronts, one physical or constructional – the castle, the old town – and a social one – the displacement of the population. Since late 1513, João de Meneses, captain of the Azemmour camp, presented to the Portuguese king the proposal that would be chosen as the outline of the cutting wall: a new arm of the castle would stretch in a line along the Moorish castle to the former mosque, where it would shift towards the north, continuing straight ahead until reaching the eastern wall above the river. At the extremity of the site the circular Bastion of Saint Christopher was built, whereas the edge of the cutting would be marked by the rectangular Bastion of Town, Castle, Sertão or Field which included a gate of the same name with a Roman arch, a bevelled archivolt and jambs. It was a structure for the outflanking of the remaining segment as far as the sea, through two bombardiers. The extremity overlooking the river was bordered by another bastion, pointed and semicircular, with fire-holes pointing over the land and the river.
The works were supervised by master builders Diogo and Francisco de Arruda. They controlled the construction of the bastions of Saint Christopher and Ray facing the end of the town and considered sufficient to ensure its defense as long as they were furnished with powerful bombards. Both had copings, still visible nowadays, with balconies and battlements. This way, the approach of the enemy to the base of the bastion could be prevented by vertical fire and pouring rather than by the construction of a cavetto.
In 1517 the Regimento da obra do muro e atalho da cidade dezamor (Regulation of the work of the wall and cutting of the city of Azemmour) was published. It was an important legal instrument with specific determinations. The lower section of the planned wall was composed of pressed earth reinforced with lime mortar and was eight palms wide and twenty high. It was laid on stone and clay foundations eight palms high, being one palm more on each side at the base of the wall. At the top, the walkway was protected by a crenellated parapet two and a half palms wide. These regulations confirm the first suggestions of the plan. The construction of the cutting would be concluded in 1520 by Álvaro de Noronha, then governor, who, with the exception of the Arab walls, had completed the destruction of the old town a year before.
Despite the doubts regarding the execution of the total plan of the cutting, the fortification of the castle centred on construction within the resulting square area. The conclusion of a surrounding moat begun on December 1513 was put off. The wall of the cutting was defined by southern side of the castle and the precinct was bordered to the west by a lightly curving wall, with the Saint Christopher and Ray bastions at its extremities. The latter was the starting point for a straight curtain wall in the direction of the river, reinforced by a cavetto which helped in the digging of the dry moat. It was interrupted by a U-shaped bastion equipped with artillery pieces along its flanks and which broke the stretch of wall. The north wall ended in a square tower with curved corners, which has now been reconstructed on the original Portuguese base. At this point the Portuguese northern wall was connected to the river front taking advantage of the original outline. Two inflexions or indentations were introduced, less evident than those of the Bastion of Town, but important for the protection of the Stream’s Gate.