O Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-velha de Coimbra - da Fundação ao processo de valorização

Abstract

This essay chooses as its subject the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha in Coimbra, unique example of mendicant gothic architecture in Portugal. Starting with the study of its history, from the foundation to abandonment, it is intended to provide critical insights into the valuation process of the monastic scene as a national monument, a process that culminated in the contemporary interpretation of the ruin and the site by Atelier 15 (Architects Alexandre Alves Costa, Sergio Fernandez and collaborators). The study was divided in two parts. The first corresponds to the history of the monastery since its foundation until its abandonment, through various levels of approximation: the urban and historic site of implantation, personalities linked to its foundation, the monastic site, adversity caused by the river Mondego and how these problems were solved, when fighting nature was no longer possible. In the second part, it is intended to recognize the relevance of the evolutionary process of safeguarding, conservation and enhancement of the monastery, which begun in the 20th century and culminated in the provision of conditions for visiting the monument, initially through the Direcção-Geral de Monumentos Nacionais (general management of national monuments), then with the Portuguese Institute of Architectural Heritage, and finally, this last one in collaboration with Atelier 15. Thus, it is essential to establish a parallel between the monument and the contemporary intervention, which allowed a new reading of the monastic ruin through consolidation, implementation of circuits of visit and the construction of an interpretive center for support. It is this context that this paper aims to discuss, recognizing that the history of Santa Clara-a-Velha is the sum of several variables - location, nature, man - that promoted its development and fall in the Middle Ages, and subsequent rebirth and recovery in modern times.