Balconies for the Municipalities: Public Architecture and Visual Performance of Power in Early Modern Castile

Abstract

Th roughout the sixteenth century, in accordance with their
status as rulers of the city, the members of the Castilian municipalities
sought to establish their own buildings and balconies in the new urban
centers, from where they could show themselves with the appropiate
decorum on the occasion of public events and celebrations. In addition
to the city halls and other civic architecture, adapted in their façades
for this role as mirador or overlook, a new type of public buildings, the
balconies of the city and casas de miradores, also appeared by then to
accommodate the municipal governments and to visually emphasize
their power.