Gran Hotel de Jaca: an infrastructure for mountain tourism

Abstract

Mountain tourism in the Pyrenees has evolved from its origins in the early twentieth century to the present situation in terms of the changing conception of the territory: first understood as a landscape to be contemplated, it evolved to become the support for the development of recreational activities. This in turn has also meant a shift in the architectural approach to the hotel infrastructure serving this territory. The present paper illustrates this shift in the first half of the twentieth century from the study of a specific example: the Gran Hotel de Jaca (1955-1958), designed by the architect Lorenzo Monclús Ramírez (1912-2013). The project, which became one of the characteristic images of the city from the time of its completion, is a significant example of hotel architecture in Spain in the 50s. The existence of a previous version of the project, a decade earlier, allows, through the study of both proposals, not only to show this shift, but also the evolution experienced by Spanish architecture during that period.