For almost three centuries, the wall of the Ferrol Military Arsenal has been a physical and symbolic border between the city and the estuary. A wall conceived for war and defense, which now begins a new stage: This Friday the partial demolition work officially begins within the macro urban project Open Ferrol to the Sea, a milestone that aspires to represent a before and after in Ferrol’s relationship with its maritime façade.
The event will be attended by the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, and the president of the Xunta de Galicia, Alfonso Ruedain addition to the mayor of Ferrol, José Manuel Rey Varela. For the councilor, it is “a symbol of a stage that is left behind and an emblem of the great transformation that is already underway”, an intervention that, perhaps, will completely change the image and use of the Ferrol seafront.
Not in vain, the Arsenal wall is not a simple isolated element nor a solitary perimeter enclosure. It is part of a defensive complex conceived in the 18th century when Ferrol was planned as a large naval base for the Bourbon monarchy. As academic studies on the enclosure recall, an arsenal was, in essence, a fortified citadel, designed both to defend against external attacks and to guarantee internal control of a strategic installation.
From its first designs, land defense was considered essential. He Ferrol Arsenal was built in a cove, at the foot of the Canido and Esteiro mountainsand adopted a model of academic fortification, with large sections of wall, water moat, glacis and bastions. All this executed with a Remarkable technical precision and high quality materialsespecially the granite stonework, which has allowed its conservation for more than two hundred years.
Engineering, geometry and power
One of the most unique features of the wall is the application of advanced mathematical and geometric principles for its time. The design of the Arsenal and its defenses responds to criteria of symmetry, golden ratio and military functionality, an exercise in hydraulic and construction engineering that had hardly any parallel in 18th century Europe.
He defensive system came to include a maritime curtain with more than a hundred cannons and a land front reinforced with a water moat – considered the most effective defensive obstacle -, parapets, scarps and counterscarps.
The effectiveness of the complex was such that, throughout its history, the security of the Arsenal was only compromised on rare occasions, such as during the republican insurrection of 1872 or in specific episodes in the 19th century.
The wall and the city
Beyond its military function, the wall conditioned the urban development of Ferrol. The glacis—the clear strip in front of the wall—gave rise to the mall, considered the oldest in Galiciaand delimited a space that over time was filled with public buildings and areas for citizen use. For decades, however, the wall was also a visual and physical barrier that separated the city from its estuary.
This duality has been at the center of the heritage debate. He Ferrol Military Arsenal has been declared an Asset of Cultural Interest since 1986 and has comprehensive protection, both state and regional.
The intervention: open without completely erasing
The project Opening Ferrol to the Sea proposes an intermediate solution between conservation and transformation. According to the planned intervention, the oldest sections of the wall will be lowered to their original height from the 18th century, while the 19th century sections will be reduced to approximately one and a half meters, completed with enclosures that guarantee the security of the military complex. The most significant defensive angles will retain greater height, as a testament to the original system.
The final goal is ambitious: transform the maritime façade of Ferrol with a bike lane and a green and blue path of more than ten kilometersintegrating the old military limit into a new open urban space, accessible and connected to the estuary.
