Juan Martín Cermeño, or Zermeño Carrillo de Albornoz Galbeño, Jua
"Juan Martín Cermeño".
''Diccionario Biográfico electrónico''.

Real Academia de la Historia The Royal Academy of History (, RAH) is a Spanish institution in Madrid that studies history "ancient and modern, political, civil, ecclesiastical, military, scientific, of letters and arts, that is to say, the different branches of life, of c ...

. Retrieved 24 May 2023. (Ciudad Rodrigo, Salamanca, 1700 – Barcelona, 1773) was a Spanish architect, military engineer and lieutenant general.

Life and work

Juan Martín Cermeño, son of Domingo Martín Báez and Isabel Fernández Cermeño was born in

Ciudad Rodrigo Ciudad Rodrigo () is a small cathedral city in the province of Salamanca (province), Salamanca, in western Spain, with a population in 2016 of 12,896. It is also the seat of a judicial district. The site of Ciudad Rodrigo, perched atop a rocky r ...

. In 1719 he joined the Royal Engineers Corps. He reached the rank of field marshal in 1748, between 1749 and 1756 he had been an acting general commander of the military engineers. From a young age he began collaborating in construction works. In 1721 Cermano reformed the entire exterior circuit of the Old Town

Melilla Melilla (, ; ) is an autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was part of the Province of Málaga un ...

and that same year, Cermeño married Antonia de Paredes Fernández, in Melilla, where his son, Pedro Martín Cermeño, was born in 1722. In 1727 he participated in the siege of

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. In 1749, Cermeño was appointed General Commander of the Engineers. In 1751 Cermeño commissioned Pedro de Lucuce to make a report on how to defend the new frontier between Catalonia and France. In September 1753, Cermeño initiated the works of

Sant Ferran Castle The Sant Ferran Castle () is situated on a hill in Figueres, Catalonia at the end of Pujada del Castell. It is a large military fortress built in the eighteenth century under the orders of several military engineers, including Pedro Martín Cermeñ ...

advised in Lucuce's report in

Figueras Figueres (; ) is the capital city of Alt Empordà county, in the Girona region, Catalonia, Spain. The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Dalí Theatre and Museum, a large museum designed by Dalí himself which att ...

. His son, Pedro Martín Cermeño, took over the works in 1756. The Captain General of

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Jaime de Guzmán y Spinola, II Marquis of la Mina, commissioned him to lay out a new neighborhood in Barcelona that would be called

La Barceloneta La Barceloneta () is a neighborhood in the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The neighborhood was built in the 18th century for the residents of the Ribera neighborhood who had been displaced by the construction of the Ciut ...

, following Verboom's construction of the Citadel of Barcelona. Although Verboom had initially drawn up plans for the new district, these were never carried out and, in 1753, Cermeño drew up completely new plans for what would be one of Europe's major

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

projects during the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

. In 1755 he designed the Castle of San Pedro de la Roca del Morro, at the entrance to the bay of

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

. In 1758 he was appointed Governor of

Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...

and held the position until 1765. Nine years later his son Pedro Martín Cermeño, also a military engineer, occupied the same position. The Marqués de la Mina also commissioned Cermeño with the project of the refurbishing works of the

Montjuïc Castle Montjuïc () is a hill in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Montjuïc or Montjuich, meaning "Jewish Mountain" in medieval Latin and Catalan, is a broad, shallow hill in Barcelona with a rich history. It was the birthplace of the city, and its st ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. The old fort was demolished and rebuilt in 1779. Cermeño was involved in city planning of Manila, and fortification of various places including Plaza de Cartagena, Castle of the Moors and planning the expansion of the defenses in Montevideo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cermeno, Juan Martin 18th-century Spanish architects 1700 births 1773 deaths Governors of Oran 18th century in Algeria