The Wall of the City

As a fort-city or city-fort, Montevideo is full of history as a central point of power from the time of the Spanish colonists to the age of industry. A wall was necessary to protect the city during its gestation period. As time went on, the importance of the wall faded like the limestone rocks themselves, as they were brought from the state of Canelones. Therefore, very little of the original wall remains exposed because it was built upon.

This is not to say that the unexposed parts of the wall do not remain very much intact, as it is not very practical to disassemble a 6-meter thick wall in the process of construction. The process of discovery of the wall goes something like this: the historian Raul Barofio looks at original maps of the city to find the outline of the city. He then determines along what modern streets, more or less, the wall would be found. Then he knocks on the doors of modern businesses so that they might lead him to the basements where he would gaze upon exposed rock. The similitude to the original rock might vary because of painting, cementing or another type of revamping, but the characteristic diagonal cut of the wall is unmistakeable.

Scarp and counterscarp are two words that denote the outer and inner edge of the moat, from the place where earth was mounted and held back with rock, to the inner edge which is symolized by the fort wall that held in the city and people.

A good place to observe the wall is the orange painted lines that represent the outline of the wall. Here are where the architects noted the presence of the wall on their plans. These lines are especially obvious on the Independence Square, under which its western half the ciudadela lies.

Today there is an effort to have the parts that remain of the wall preserved and on display if possible. Every time a new building is demolished we are closer to having this magnificent structure preserved.