Cave Construction with Masonry Arches and Vaults

This paper describes a singular cave found in Chinchón (Madrid) three years ago while refurbishment works were being executed. The cave, situated at a depth of 10 metres, features brick arches and vaults and 13 earthenware jars. Constructions of this type were very common in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in this village as the special earth conditions made digging caves without need of reinforced work possible. The most striking characteristics of the cave described in this article are its great depth, plans of two galleries at right angles, its interior height and the vaulted solution employed to cover it. Historical construction studies of those underground constructions have not been very common.