Luis Bravo de Laguna and Giliberto de Bedoya.
Cristóbal Messia Bocanegra and Andrea Castoria,
Gaspar de Guzmán, Conde de Olivares
The northern section of the Rock showing a detailed plan of the town
The Bay and Straits of Gibraltar
Don Luis Bravo de Acuña - Caballero de la Orden de Calatrava, de los Consejos de Guerra, y Hacienda de S.M. e igualmente Su Embajador de Venecia y Gobernador de Cádiz, Virrey de Navarra, General de Guipúzcoa, y Gentilhombre de la Cámara del Infante Cardenal - was no ordinary man in the street.
Born in the late 16th century he was already a soldier of considerable repute. In 1611 he was put in charge of all military forces and Spanish galleys in Portugal and shortly after was made overseer of all the galleys of Spain and Italy.
Today Luis Bravo is better known - at least in Gibraltar - as the engineer responsible for writing an extraordinarily detailed report on the state of the Rock's fortifications as well as recommendations for converting them into the 'Modern Style' which was developed by Italian engineers previously sent to the Rock by Charles I and Philip II.
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The Northern Defences
Detail of the plan shown above. Bravo used three colours - grey for older defensive structures, red for those that had been repaired and yellow for any new work that had been carried out from 1625 to 1627
In 1627 Bravo arrived in Gibraltar flourishing a Royal Letters Patent signed by Phillip IV of Spain. He had been instructed to check and improve upon the fortifications of both Gibraltar and Cadiz. A recent unsuccessful English naval attempt to capture the Spanish port had highlighted the weakness of its defences. The Spanish authorities were now worried they would be unable to repulse a second attempt - this time perhaps against Gibraltar - by a newer and even more powerful English Fleet.
The Northern and Bay defenses
Bravo had already visited the Rock a short time previously. For this second visit, however, his instructions allowed him to do more whatever he fancied as regards surveying the Rock's and its fortifications. The letter, addressed to Cristóbal Mexia Bocanegra, the Corregidor of the Rock. It stresses that;
. . . . in everything and for everything they should comply with all orders that you (Bravo) might give them referring to the said fortifications and constructions on the mole, in the manner that they should and ought to be done when you are in that city.
Middle section of the Rock showing the New Mole and the Red Sands area
During his relatively short stay he prepared a series of incredibly detailed plans. They are supposed to have been drawn by Andrea Castoria, another royal engineer who was a resident in Gibraltar. Bravo must have thought highly of Castoria. When he visited Tarifa that same year for a similar review of its fortifications he took Castoria with him.
The Puerta del Mar area showing the Old Mole in a state of disrepair
The end result of the Gibraltar project was a series of proposals all of which were included in Bravo's report to Gaspar de Guzman - Gibraltar fortificada: por mando de el Rey nuestro señor D. Philippe IIIº. Consejo, y cuidado de D. Gaspar de Guzman, Conde de Olivares, Duque de Sanlucar - an imposing title for an imposing piece of work. All the pictures in this article - apart from that of the Devil's Tower - are from the report.
Olivares, incidentally was a renown map and atlas collector and probably owned innumerable views of Spanish towns perhaps even others of Gibraltar. Unfortunately he left his collection to the Escorial Library when he died, and most of it perished in a fire in 1671.
The Moorish Castle and its defensive walls. The insect drawing must be a modern addition - It does not appear on the original map as shown on the left
Bravo's report, which was essentially an atlas, was not among those destroyed and eventually found its way to the British Library. Those lucky enough to be able to view them will be able to appreciate any number of beautifully detailed maps, drawings and diagrams showing the state of affairs at the time and proposals for the future. For the uninitiated - such as me for example - it is quite hard to distinguish between them.
Many of Bravo's maps give semi-realistic perspective views that are almost planimetric. They give the uninformed map reader a very good impression of the layout of the Rock and its town.
One can gather from his report that on the whole Bravo found himself reasonably satisfied with the state of Gibraltar's defences. He found them all 'en buen estado'. It was a surprising conclusion when one considers the continual criticisms levelled against Gibraltar's fortifications at the start of the century.
The South.
The buildings - are from the left, - Torre de los Genoveses, an unknown structure, the Nun's Well, the Chapel of Nuestra Señora de Europa, and another small unknown building
Improvements to the Torre del Tuerto fortress as proposed by Bravo
Detail from main map showing on the left the Convent of St Francis and its gardens and on the right la Puerta Nueva, Baluarte del Rosario and Charles V's Wall
Improvements to the Torre del Tuerto fortress as proposed by Bravo
A truly exceptional book from which many of the illustrations in this article are taken from