| Rafael Manzano Martos | |
| Nationality: | Spanish |
| Birth Date: | 6 November 1936 |
| Birth Place: | Cádiz, Spain |
| Practice: | Estudio Manzano |
| Awards: | Knight Commander of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise, 1967 Golden Medal of the Fine Arts, 1972 Shiller Prize, 1980 Silver Medal of Osuna, 2001 Richard H. Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture, 2010 Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Medal, 2021 Federico Joly Prize, 2022 |
| Children: | Julia María and Miguel Ángel |
| Spouse: | Concepción Pérez Montes (deceased) |
| Parents: | Rafael Manzano Trujillo María Luisa Martos Lalanne[1] |
Rafael Manzano Martos (born in Cádiz, Spain on 6 November 1936) is a Spanish architect. He was educated at the Superior Technical School of Architecture in Madrid. He was a disciple of Professors Manuel Gómez-Moreno Martínez, Leopoldo Torres Balbás, Fernando Chueca Goitia and Francisco Íñiguez Almech.
Manzano is a representative of New Urbanism and New Classical Architecture. There is an architecture prize named after him, the Rafael Manzano Prize for New Traditional Architecture.[2]
Rafael Manzano Martos earned his degree from the Technical School of Architecture in Madrid in 1961, and his Doctorate in 1963. As a student under Professors Gómez-Moreno Martínez, Torres Balbás, Chueca Goitia and Íñiguez Almech, he specialized in historic studies and in the Theory and Techniques of Monument Restoration. He was also a collaborator at the School of Arab Studies in Madrid from 1956 to 1963, where he cultivated his interest in Islamic history and archaeology.[3]
In all of his works, he has expressed his faithfulness to the classical idiom and to the integration of his work in the urban setting or in the rural landscape. In his restorations of monuments, he has avoided any aggressive approach to the buildings of the past, respecting the architecture handed down and complementing it with a simple yet academic architecture that integrates into the monument without any visual aggression or turning it into a pretext for creating a contemporary work of questionable quality.
He has restored and consolidated the following monuments, among others:
Manzano is a member of several Spanish academic institutions, including the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, the Royal Academies of the History and of Fine arts of Granada, Córdoba, Cádiz, Málaga, Écija, Toledo and La Coruña, and the Academy of the Good Letters of Seville.
In Spain he received the Golden Medal of the Fine Arts (13 April 1972)[6] and he is Knight Commander of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise (7 November 1967).[7]
In terms of international acclaim he was awarded with the 2010 Richard H. Driehaus Prize for Traditional and Classical Architecture for his entire career.[8]
Previously, in 1980 he received the Shiller Prize for Restoration and Conservation.
Also, he received the Silver Medal of the City of Osuna in 2001.[9]
On 9 April 2021, he received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Medal for his service to the Catholic Church.[10]
In January 2022, he received the Federico Joly Prize.