Convent cloisters in Toledo: Order and composition in the Historic City

Abstract

In the research conducted within the Architectural Composition Department at the Toledo School of Architecture, we have addressed various issues related to built heritage and urban landscape. Within this research area, over the past few years, we have focused on a complex heritage system such as the urban convents of the city of Toledo. These architectural complexes, which once numbered just over fifty in the city and of which the buildings of about thirty still remain, have played a decisive role in shaping the urban structure of Toledo as well as in characterizing its prevalent image as a “convent city”. Each of these architectural complexes takes on the character of isolated and self-sufficient “micro-cities”, articulated around a key element: the convent cloister. Our research, while not overlooking the usual lines of typological, morphological, and stylistic classification of convent cloisters, is distinguished by focusing on the analysis of the role played by the convent cloister in a twofold sense: firstly, as a fundamental architectural element for understanding the structure, character and composition of Toledo’s convents; and secondly, in terms of the role played by the cloister and/or convent courtyard in granting order and composition to the city to the extent that the cloister becomes one of the most characteristic elements of the cultural heritage of the historical city of Toledo.