Arquitectura escrita del poder: el manuscrito de 1626 de Juan Gómez de Mora y la geografía cortesana de los Austrias

Abstract

The 1626 manuscript attributed to Juan Gómez de Mora provides the clearest surviving textual expression of the spatial and administrative logic that structured Habsburg royal architecture. Rather than a descriptive inventory, it outlines the operative criteria—axial clarity, hierarchical distribution, controlled access and functional coherence—used to evaluate palaces across the Iberian territories. A comparative reading of the manuscript with Gómez de Mora’s built works, especially the Alcázar of Madrid and the Sitios Reales, shows that the text functions as a “verbal plan”, revealing the same conceptual grammar present in his architectural practice. Positioned within the visual culture of Mancelli and Cassiano dal Pozzo and the historiography of Escobar, Marías, Checa and Rodríguez, the manuscript redefines Gómez de Mora as an administrative architect whose work articulates the political mechanisms of the Spanish monarchy.