El Canal del Gran Priorato de San Juan, de Juan de Villanueva

The Canal of the Grand Priory of Saint John was constructed in accordance with the architectural project and under the supervision of Juan de Villanueva between 1782 and 1811, within the socio-economic and ideological context of the Enlightenment. The objectives of the canal were similar to those of other major river canalization projects undertaken during the late 18th century Enlightenment Spain: to increase the extent of cultivated land through irrigation, to provide hydraulic power for the mills and fulling mills established along its course, and to support navigability. This study focuses on the grounds for starting these works, as well as their antecedents and development, bringing us closer to the personality and ideas of their main advocate, the Infante Gabriel of Spain (1752–1788), Grand Prior of the Order of Saint John in the territories of Castile and León, and to the vision of the neoclassical architect Juan de Villanueva y Montes (1739–1811), the foremost representative of his generation, whose contribution is considered one of the pinnacles in the history of the noble art of Spanish architecture.