La funcionalización del interior de baluartes: el caso del fuerte de San Carlos de Perote (Veracruz, México)

Since the 15th century, the presence of bastions in military architecture has likely been the feature that most clearly characterises a structure as a modern fortification. However, over the years, both the forms and dimensions of these singular elements underwent significant modifications, adapting to advancements in the art of warfare as well as the range and destructive capacity of weaponry. From a constructional perspective, a clear transformation took place at the end of the 17th century, such that many bastions ceased to be solid and began to be hollow, utilising their interiors for the creation of functional spaces such as cisterns, storage depots, or gunpowder magazines. The first part of this paper describes and analyses this phenomenon based on classical treatises on fortification, while the second part exemplifies it through the case of the San Carlos de Perote Fort (Veracruz, Mexico).