Cartagena de Indias

Cartagena de Indias, one of the main Spanish commercial ports in the Caribbean Sea, was strategically built on a system of islands and peninsulas that formed a lacustrine system along the coast of Tierra Firme, known today as Colombia. For several centuries, Cartagena fortifications have been at the fore-front of Spanish military technologies. This site became the scene of action of the main military engineers at the service of the Spanish crown. In 1586 Battista Antonelli received from King Philipe II the task to design this monumental defensive system.

The recent methods of survey and modeling based on digital images or laser scanner technologies, today widely tested, are an exceptional support for the rapidity of acquisition, especially in emergency situations where it is necessary to quickly acquire a documentation in order not to stay long in a place.

One of the most important architectural pieces of the walled complex of Cartagena de Indias in Colombia was the so-called bridge of the Media Luna, whose first phase of construction dates back to 1628. Since its construction, the Media Luna underwent several reforms and was submitted to some projects aimed at strengthening its defensive capacity conceived by military engineers at the service of the Spanish Crown, such as Juan Jiménez Donoso and Antonio de Arévalo.