Structural configuration of the Spanish medieval ceiling of the V&A Museum: An image essay

The Victoria and Albert Museum has a Spanish medieval ceiling from the Cárdenas Palace (Torrijos, Toledo), demolished in 1904, which had superb ceilings on the four corner towers. This ‘image essay’ visualises the design and structure of the V&A’s Torrijos ceiling. The V&A’s ceiling was located to the north of the palace and is characterised by a structure divided into eight sectors according to the plan and five angles according to the section. Its structural configuration followed the traditional model of the most common wooden roof in Spain, called par y nudillo (rafter and collar-tie), in this case with an octagonal shape. The peculiarity of these frameworks was that the decoration of the woodwork was part of the same pieces that supported the roof, achieving a total integration of geometry, structure, and ornamentation.