The Torre del reloj from CarTagena de IndIas. STudy on arChITeCTural TransformaTIons through survey of PermanenCe and absenCe

This study is focused on one of the most important architectural symbols of the City of Cartagena de Indias and is the result of a research project 1 on architectural heritage of the Colombian Caribbean region. The historic center of Cartagena declared World Heritage by UNESCO 2 (1984) is the sum of several distinctive elements giving identity to the walled city, such as the Torre del Reloj and the wall’s main gate, where they are settled. The objective of this research study was to ascertain the artifact product by means of an integrated study, where the architectural survey of the current reality and a study of all its missing elements are crossed, i.e., analysis of the set of overlapping traces throughout its history to re-interpret them and, perhaps to deepen the knowledge about this architecture. Finally, the intent was to recover elements that were lost or not developed by the transformations experienced by La Torre del Reloj over time.