Alonso Turrillo de Yebra was a Spanish military engineer and architect, at the service of the kings Felipe II, Felipe III and
Felipe IV
Philip IV (, ; 8 April 160517 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: ''Rey Planeta''), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered for his patronage of the ...
. Turrillo became the first royal treasurer of
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
in 1607 and later arrived to the
new Kingdom of Granada
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995
* "New" (Daya song), 2017
* "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
in 1621 with a royal order that accredited him to create the first Mint of '' Casa de la Moneda'' or '' Casa de Moneda'' is Spanish for mint (coin) (literally, house of money) in the
New Kingdom of Granada
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995
* "New" (Daya song), 2017
* "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
. Turrillo became the first royal treasurer of Santafe de Bogotá.
Turillo was an official in
Cartagena de Indias
Cartagena ( ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Region of Colombia, Caribbean Coast Region, along the Caribbean Sea. Cartagena's past ...
and, Superintendent Captain of the Spanish Empire.
Biography
de Yerba studied mathematics and, in 1596 became an assistant to the engineer
Cristóbal de Rojas
Cristóbal or Cristobal, the Spanish version of Christopher, is a masculine given name and a surname which may refer to:
Given name
* Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895–1972), Spanish fashion designer
* Cristóbal Cobo (born 1976), Chilean academic
...
, with whom he drew up plans in
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 ...
and carried out various works until 1598, the year in which he went to
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
by order of the
Council of War
A council of warSan Antonio fort, as well as repairs of its port.
In 1607 he was at court, where he was entrusted with the plans for the construction of the ''Casa de la Moneda del Pósito'' in
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
. In 1611 he was proposed to go to
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
. As a consequence of his well-earned fame as an architect, in 1613 the
Duke of Uceda
Duke of Uceda () is a hereditary title in the Peerage of Spain, accompanied by the dignity of Grandee and granted in 1610 by Philip III to Cristóbal Gómez de Sandoval, who succeeded his father Francisco Gómez de Sandoval, 1st Duke of Lerma ...
asked him to build a palace for him at Court, a palace that ended in 1619 and was highly criticized at the time for its 'strange novelty'. In 1618 he carried out the project of stakes to close the bar of La Mamora (current Moroccan city of MehdÃa).
His experience in the construction of buildings for the crown or the nobility would motivate him to be sent to
Santa Fe de Bogotá
Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Christma ...
, in the
New Kingdom of Granada
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995
* "New" (Daya song), 2017
* "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
, in 1620 to build a Mint there. In this regard, according to the Royal Decree issued in Madrid on June 10, 1620.
Turrillo set out for Santa Fe with various officials, personal belongings, tools, and instruments for the work of the currency. It is known that there are coins of 8 reales minted in Cartagena of the year 1621, which had to be made sometime between August and no later than December of that year.
By Royal Decree of 24 August 1626 addressed to Diego de Escobar, Governor of Cartagena, the authorisation for the minting of vellón coins was rescinded, authorising the minting of silver coins, but restricted to the values of 1/4, 1/2, 1 and 2 reales. Minting began that year in Cartagena, and despite not having authorization, gold was also chipped. Due to this, by order of the Santa Fe audience it was closed in 1629. Later, the Spanish monarch ordered its reopening in 1630, lifting the restriction. The mint minted gold and silver coins of the ''
macuquina
Macuquinas are manually minted coins issued in Spanish America from the 16th century to the middle of the 18th century. Due to the absence of minting machinery in South America, the coins were of irregular shape and roughly minted with hammers.
...
'' type with very rough workmanship until 1635, when it was closed by Royal Decree.
Given the endemic problem of lack of drinking water in
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Almendares or Chorrera rivers through ditches or pipes that avoided the cumbersome and slow system used until then. However, it was not easy to carry it out, since, as was the case in many cases, jurisdictional and administrative problems delayed it until 1566, when the fortification master, Francisco de Colona, began the work called La Zanja. Alonso Turrillo intervened in the work in 1623, needing to repair the Chorrera dam, because with 'the strong storms and floods it has broken a lot of ground and is exposed to dangerous floods'.
In 1625 went to
Cádiz
Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...
, where he received the order to go to the port of La Mamora in order to study the possible closure of his bar, a commission from which Turrillo excused himself, citing his many obligations. Finally, in 1629 he was ordered to go to
Cartagena de Indias
Cartagena ( ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Region of Colombia, Caribbean Coast Region, along the Caribbean Sea. Cartagena's past ...
, for everything appropriate to its fortification, for which he had to embark on the navy of D.
Fadrique de Toledo
Fadrique de Toledo Osorio, 1st Marquess of Valdueza (30 May 1580 – 11 December 1634), was a Spanish Navy officer and nobleman. He was a Knight of the Order of Santiago and became Captain General of the Spanish Navy at the age of 37.
Life
...
. Between 1631 and 1634 he held the position of governor of the province of
Antioquia Antioquia is the Spanish form of Antioch.
Antioquia may also refer to:
* Antioquia Department
Antioquia () is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders th ...
and it seems that he was the first to introduce a carriage in Bogotá.
His relative, Antonio de Vergara Azcárate inherited the title of Treasurer and took over the royal job for 50 years.
Military Museum of Colombia
The museum was founded by the military engineer Turrillo Yebra Alonso in the seventeenth century.
It houses the art collection of coins and Bank of the Republic. In 1975 it was declared a national monument. The property of Calle de la Esperanza No. 4-92 passed to