Guides to the cultural heritage of Roses (07)

Visitor’s Guide to the Ciutadella de Roses

Category: Modern

  • The Ovens and the Feeding of the Troops

    One of the most important problems for any army was feeding the troops, and bread constituted an essential element. It was so important that bakeries  were called “ammunition ovens”  (the soldier was the weapon).

    We know the location of some of the ovens that existed in the Citadel. One of them (now removed) was built after the siege of 1645. It is a large oven, quadrangular externally and circular internally, which was built over the street that can still be observed a few metres  towards the north. At the beginning of the 18th century, it was abandoned and replaced by the two that can still be seen today. These are two slightly oval ovens, built with brick vaults and without a lower combustion chamber, so the fire was lit in the same chamber where the dough was later placed to make bread. This system allowed baking black bread, the military authorities’ preference, as it lasted more days without drying out.

    Below these ovens, part of the houses of the medieval town are preserved and, at the back, the wall, equipped with high arrow slits.

    1 Interior of one of the ovens, with a brick vault and a layer of sand under the paving to maintain the heat.
    Source: CRAPA.
    2 Bread oven that was built over the remains of the Carrer d’en Ganyut, removed during restoration work.
    Source: CRAPA.
    3 Below the 18th-century paving of the oven building, the remains of the medieval houses are preserved.
    Source: CRAPA.