In these lines written in a few words after the unexpected death of Joaquín Lorda, professor of Architecture, I would like to evoke some aspects of his personality that revive in my report and that I know from the close professional relationship that we maintained thanks to our dedication to related fields of artistic knowledge. 

 The first memory takes us to Granada, in 2002, where the International Symposium Alonso Cano and his time was held, which we both attended. 

The controversial façade of the cathedral of Granada, the work of Alonso Cano, which was analyzed in different aspects, was the subject of that session. It was the turn of Professor Lorda who, leaving the table and Concepción García Gainza walking around the platform, gave more of a master class than a discussion paper on Alonso Cano, the flying frieze and its influence, where he demonstrated his profound knowledge of architectural composition and his mastery of ornamentation. Needless to say, we specialists were surprised and admired by the novelty of the analysis. 

Another of my most vivid memories takes us to a very different and close place, to the Sacristy of the Cathedral of Pamplona, where a lecture series on the first temple, organized by the Chair of Heritage and Navarrese Art, was taking place. 

The lecture that closed the cycle was dedicated to the façade of the cathedral, and logically it was entrusted to Lorda, who had mastered the topic as we had heard from him on occasion. When the time came, Joaquín explained that, for various reasons, he had no images to accompany his exhibition; standing up, with a sheet of paper in his hand, he drew the cathedral façade freehand in front of the audience. Logically, he could only see it from above and upside down. It was a great lecture that I believe none of us present will have forgotten. 

Some other aspects that I remember now seem to me also noteworthy. The first is his attraction for Latin America, whose countries he traveled to study colonial art. These trips resulted, on the one hand, in several of his own publications and some doctoral thesis and, on the other hand, in his relationship with specialists from those lands, of which the organization of courses with the School of Monterrey, there and here, during successive years, is a fact A . 

The second aspect I would like to mention is Lorda's constant concern to provide the Library Services of the School of Architecture with fundamental books on theory and treatises, and to update it with novelties published in England or Italy. As the budget for books was scarce and ran out soon, Joaquín repeatedly contributed his own money to make up for this lack, according to Joaquín's own confidences, which I now dare to reveal. Thus came precious books, very current, which he read in depth; we would comment and discuss afterwards their consequences since they touched on subjects we were working on. These books have benefited, and continue to benefit, many students and researchers and have enriched some of my own research. Rest in peace, Joaquín Lorda, a wise professor with a touch of genius, generous with his ideas, drawings and books, and humble.