The demolition of the restaurant inside Queen’s Fort of Tarragona (Spain)

Abstract

British General James Stanhope reached Tarragona in 1709. He wanted to establish a naval base, in order to give military support to Archduke Charles of Austria in his dispute for the throne of Spain with Philip V. The “Fortí de la Reina” (Queen's Fort) is part of the overall project for the city fortification, led by Austrian and British; its position defended the northeastern end of Miracle Beach. Between 1988-1992 a large restaurant (about 2500 m2 ) was built within the walled perimeter of the Fort; it recreated a Romanesque cloister using GRC panels (glass fiber reinforced concrete), an architecture totally incongruent with the austere 18th century military structure in which it was housed. After various legal disputes, in 2007 a court ordered the demolition of the restaurant to return, as much as possible, the Queen's Fort to its previous state. In this paper we describe this demolition work