CUADERNO CUADERNO de la distribución de las aguas potables pertenecientes a esta M.H. Villa de Madrid, formado con arreglo a los titulos de pertenencia y demás documentos que han presentado todos los usufructuarios que en el se espresan en virtud de lo acordado por el Excmo. Ayuntamiento en 5 de Marzo de 1830.

First and sole edition.

The work documents the distribution of drinking water in Madrid, describing in detail the four ‘journeys’ or systems used to transport water from aquifers or wells to the surface. This transport was carried out through underground aqueducts or filtering galleries, taking advantage of gravity and eliminating the need for pumping.

The first, the Alcubilla aqueduct, one of the oldest of those supplying the town of Madrid, transported ‘fine water’, i.e. with little saline content. It started from the old Chamartín site and ran to the Puerta de Bilbao, from where it ran parallel to the Fuencarral road to the most central districts of the Spanish capital.

The second, the Castellana, supplied water to different neighbourhoods in the centre of the city, to Calle de Hortaleza (fountain of the Galapagos), etc…

The third, the ‘Alto de Abroñigal’, had its source at the beginning of the Abroñigal stream, in the district of Canillas; and the fourth, ‘el bajo de Abroñigal’, with its source between Canillas and Canillejas, ran towards the city along a road parallel to the old Aragón road.

Throughout the 17th century, promoted by the Council of Madrid and the Crown itself, important hydraulic works were undertaken in Madrid to supply the city with water from places close to it, in an arc that included the east, northeast and north of the city’s environs. To carry out these works, large amounts of money were spent and cutting-edge technical means were used for the time, although with a long and proven tradition in their use. These infrastructures are referred to as ‘water journeys’ by period documents, chroniclers and historians. Basically, they are underground conduits, made up of galleries and pipes, used to transport, by gravity, water from water tables far from the town to different parts of it. It is usually said that this system was introduced by the Arabsin Spain and that the medieval town of Madrid had abundant water not only from wells or springs converted into fountains, but also from springs far from the destination fountains or ponds, due to the ‘qanats’ or conduits built by them.

Teodoro Ardemans (ca. 1661-1726), famous Spanish architect and painter, himself transmitted, at the beginning of the 18th century, the idea of a city perforated in its subsoil, due to the mines and the ditches of the ancient waterways built in the Muslim period. However, archaeological remains of these much-celebrated infrastructures are rather scarce. Perhaps they were average facilities that did not survive the passage of time, because water infrastructures were very vulnerable, as we show in this study, contrary to what is implicitly commonly accepted, i.e. the durability of these infrastructures over the centuries. Be that as it may, what is certain is that it was during the 17th century when works were systematically undertaken for the construction of the largest and most important water pipelines, the most important water journeys, which were the main means of water supply to Madrid until the mid-19th century, when the waters of the Lozoya river, brought by the Isabel II Canal, began to reach the city.

PROVENANCE

Magnificent copy having belonged to the famous Spanish architect Custodio Teodoro Moreno (Estremera, Madrid, 1780 – Madrid, 1854). From the beginning of his career he was closely linked to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, an institution in which he held various teaching positions and of which he became director.

In his architectural career, he did not stand out as the author of original projects but rather as a continuator of the work of others. Thus, he participated in the construction of the Prado Museum, designed by Juan de Villanueva , in the Oratorio del Caballero de Gracia , also by Villanueva, where he designed the main façade, changing the master’s plans, or in the Teatro Real, one of his most notable works, faithfully continuing the plan of Antonio López Aguado.

Between 1833 and 1844 he was in charge of important works at the Madrid Court as Chief Architect of Royal Works. He collaborated in this way in the reconstruction of the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, which had been destroyed by a fire; in the restoration of the Segovia bridge (dated in the 1830s), and in other works of lesser importance.

His art can be considered a continuation of the great masters of Spanish Neoclassicism, such as his teacher Villanueva or Ventura Rodríguez , and an example of the permanence of this style well into the 19TH century.

Extremely rare work, unknown to Palau. In the present copy technical numbering of the plates, not present in the copy held by the Biblioteca Nacional (Madrid), is added here at the time by hand in brown ink.