José Martín de Aldehuela

José Martín de Aldehuela

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I am José Martín de Aldehuela, and I drew the bridge that holds this town together. They say I fell from it. They say worse things about what happens inside it. There is a room in my bridge — I built it, and I have never been able to say plainly where it is or what became of it. Walk with me, gather the five parts of its description from the stones of Ronda, and at the gorge you will tell me where it lies.

The walk

A short loop from the bullring gate down to the lip of the Tajo, told by the man who spanned it. You'll read inscriptions, count columns and arches, and collect five fragments of a description of a room most visitors never notice. The history is real: Ronda's bullring, its bronze ghosts, and the 120-metre gorge that swallowed everything thrown into it.

Where José Martín de Aldehuela takes you

1. 1

   Plaza de Toros de Ronda

   “The Bullring Gate”

   You are at the main door of the Plaza de Toros, wide enough for horses and carriages to pass.

2. 2

   Al Toro de Lidia

   A bronze fighting bull by Nacho Martín, unveiled beside the bullring in 2005.

3. 3

   Ríos Rosas

   “The Bust of Ríos Rosas”

   A bronze bust of the Ronda-born statesman Antonio de los Ríos Rosas, its plinth carrying a date.

4. 4

   Mirador de Aldehuela

   The viewpoint on the gorge's edge named after the architect of the Puente Nuevo.

5. 5

   Vista del puente nuevo

   The classic view of the Puente Nuevo, completed in 1793 across the 120-metre El Tajo gorge.

Who was José Martín de Aldehuela?

He was the architect of Ronda's Puente Nuevo, completed in 1793, and worked on the town's bullring; the viewpoint above the gorge still carries his name.

1729–1802

José Martín de Aldehuela was an Aragonese architect who worked across Cuenca, Málaga and the Serranía de Ronda in the second half of the eighteenth century. In Ronda he is credited with the design of the Puente Nuevo, completed in 1793 after thirty-four years of building, with Juan Antonio Díaz Machuca as chief builder, and with work on the Plaza de Toros. Local legend long insisted he fell to his death from his own bridge; in fact he died in Málaga in 1802. The Mirador de Aldehuela on the edge of the Tajo is named for him.

José Martín de Aldehuela's words in this game are an AI performance written from the historical record; the facts above are documented. Read more on Wikipedia.