Architecture of Portugal

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Since the 2nd millennium BC, there has been important construction in the area where Portugal is situated today. Built before the arrival of the Romans, Citânia de Briteiros in Guimarães is a good example of native architecture. The houses were round, built from granite without mortar. They were built in settlements (castros) in the mountains, and were surrounded by protective walls.

Contents 1 Roman period 2 Romanesque style (1100-c. 1230) 3 Gothic style (c. 1230 - c. 1450) 4 Manueline style (c.1490 - c.1520) 5 Renaissance and Mannerism (c.1520 - c.1650) 6 Plain style (1580-1640) 7 Restoration architecture (1640-1717) 8 Baroque style (1717-1755) 9 Pombaline style (1755-1780) 10 Modern Architecture 11 Footnotes 12 References

[edit] Roman period

Portuguese architecture developed significantly with the arrival of the Romans (in the 2nd century BC), and evolved more closely towards other architecture around the Mediterranean. The Romans built aqueducts, bridges and roads, along with theatres, temples, circuses and other public buildings. There are particular ruins of buildings made by the Romans, called Centum Cellas whose purpose has yet to be discovered.

The Moors built castles, temples and white-washed houses.

[edit] Romanesque style (1100-c. 1230)

In the wake of the duke Henry of Burgundy, founder of the House of Burgundy in Portugal, followed, besides a number of noblemen, also a number of monks of the monasteries of Cluny and Citeaux. They slowly introduced Romanesque architecture to Portugal, following the north-south path of the Reconquista. The churches in northern Portugal (Minho, Douro) are therefore older and more numerous than the churches in more southern parts. There are almost no traces left of Romanesque buildings south of Lisbon.

There have been two main Romanesque styles in Portugal :

• One style derived from the French architecture in Auvergne and closely related to the style of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia : the Old Cathedral of Coimbra (began mid-12th century), attributed to Masters Robert and Bernard. It is one of the most prominent Romesque churches in Portugal. The Lisbon cathedral, though largely rebuilt in later years) is rather similar.
  • Western-oriented church, usually with a façade with two towers, a barrel-vaulted nave and two aisles with galleries
  • East side : a transept with a tower over the crossing, and an choir with three radiating chapels
• The other style derived from the Burgundian style of the monastery church of Cluny : Braga Cathedral, begun c. 1090. This cathedral has lost most of its Romanesque character by the many alterations in later centuries.

These massive Portuguese churches however are stylistically much simpler than their originals. Furthermore they have more the appearance of a fortress, accentuated by their massive walls and the small window openings.

In the late 12th century more than 100 small Romanesque churches and monasteries were constructed in northern Portugal. Most are very simple, with a nave, a timber roof and a rectangular or semicircular apse. Their belfry usually stands apart. The best examples can be found in Bravães (near Ponte da Barca, the São Cristovão church in Rio Mau, the São Pedro de Rates church in Rates, the ancient Benedictine Monastery of São Salvador in Travanca, the São Pedro church in Roriz and the São Salvador monastery church of Paço de Sousa.

Another remarkable building is the famous round church (rotunda) in the Convent of the Order of Christ of the castle of Tomar, built in the second half of the 12th century. One of the few surviving profane constructions is the ‘domus municipalis’ (‘council chamber’) of the citadel of Bragança.

The start of the construction of the Cathedral of Évora closes the Romanesque period, which lasted, contrary to the rest of Europe, well into the 13th century.

[edit] Gothic style (c. 1230 - c. 1450)

The Gothic style only came late to Portugal, compared to the rest of Europe and was concentrated mainly in centre of the country. It was chiefly disseminated by mendicant orders. Many churches and cathedrals in Romanesque style were enlarged with a Gothic transept or other Gothic elements. Typical examples are the Sé of Porto, the Sé of Evora. and the Convent of the Order of Christ in Tomar.

The Cistercian church and monastery of Alcobaça (begun 1178 and modelled after their Citeaux mother house in France) were the first Gothic buildings in Portugal, and, together with the Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, it was one of the most important of the medieval monasteries in Portugal.

These churches however cannot rival with the beauty of many Gothic churches in other parts of Europe. However, there is one fine example that surpasses all other Gothic churches in Portugal : the Monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória na Batalha, where the Portuguese Flamboyant Gothic style, influenced by the English Perpendicular style, reaches its climax and came closest to International Gothic.

[edit] Manueline style (c.1490 - c.1520)

Main article : Manueline

The Portuguese Late Gothic style stands apart from the rest of Europe by the development of the sumptuous Manueline style, incorporating maritime elements and several items brought back from the voyages of discovery. The style synthesizes aspects of Late Gothic architecture with Spanish, Italian, and Flemish elements. It marks the transition from Late Gothic to Renaissance. Introduced by Diogo Boitac in the Igreja de Jesus in Setubal, it reached its maturity in the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, and culminated in flashy exuberance in the window of the Convent of Christ in Tomar.

[edit] Renaissance and Mannerism (c.1520 - c.1650)

The adoption of the austere Renaissance style didn’t catch on well in Portugal. Introduced by a French architect in 1517, it was mainly practiced from the 1530s on by foreign architects and was therefore called estrangeirada (foreign-influenced). In later years this style slowly evolved into Mannerism. The painter and architect Francisco de Holanda, writer of the book Diálogos da Pintura Antiga (“Dialogues on Ancient Painting”), dissiminated in this treatise the fundamentals of this new style.

The basilica of Nossa Senhora da Conceição in Tomar was one of the earliest churches in pure Renaissance style. It was begun by the Castilian architect Diogo de Torralva in the period 1532-1540. Its beautiful and clear architecture turns it into one of the best early Renaissance buildings in Portugal. The small church of Bom Jesus de Valverde, south of Evora, attributed to both Manuel Pires and Diogo de Torralva, is another early example.

The most eminent example of this style is the Claustro de D. João III (Cloister of John III) in the Convent of the Order of Christ in Tomar. Started under the Portuguese King João III, it was finished during the reign of Philip I of Portugal (also King of Spain under the name of Philip II). The first architect was the Spaniard Diogo de Torralva, who began the work in 1557, only to be finished in 1591 by Philip II's architect, the Italian Filippo Terzi. This magnificent, two-storey cloister is considered one of the most important examples of Mannerist architecture in Portugal.

However, the best known Portuguese architect in this period was Afonso Álvares, whose works include the cathedrals of Leiria (1551-1574), Portalegre (begun 1556), and the church of São Roque in Lisbon. During this period he evolved into the Mannerist style.

This last church was completed by the Jesuit architect, the Italian Filippo Terzi, who also built the Jesuit college at Évora, the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon and the episcopal palace in Coimbra. He had an enormous production and, besides churches, he also built several aqueducts and fortresses.

In his wake came several Portuguese architects :

• Miguel de Arruda : Church of Our Lady of Grace (in Évora)
• Baltasar Álvares , best known for the Sé Nova in Coimbra and the Igreja de São Lourenço in Porto.
• Francisco Velasquez : Cathedral of Mirando do Douro and the designs for the monastery of S. Salvador (Grijó)
• the military architect Manuel Pires : St. Anton’s church in Évora.

[edit] Plain style (1580-1640)

During the union of Portugal and Spain, the period between 1580 and 1640, a new style developed called “Arquitecture chã” (plain architecture) by George Kubler.^[1] Basically mannerist, this style also marked by a clear structure, a sturdy appearance with smooth, flat surfaces and a moderate arrangement of space, lacking excessive decorations. It is a radical break with the decorative Manueline style. This simplified style, caused by limited financial resources, expresses itself in the construction of hall churches and less impressive buildings. In resistance to the Baroque style that was already the standard in Spain, the Portuguese continued to apply the plain style to express their separate identity as a people.

• Baltasar Alvares built some of the most impressive examples in this style : the Sé Nova of Coimbra (1598-1640), the S Lourenço or Grilos church in Porto (begun 1614) and the church S Antão in Lisbon (1613-1656; now destroyed)..
• Other examples are the several Benedictine constructions in this period, such as the renovation by João Turriano of the Monastery of Tibães and the Monastery of São Bento (now the Portuguese Parliament).
• Francisco de Mora) designed the convent of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios (Évora) for the order of the Discalced Carmelites (1601-1614)
• Pedro Nunes Tinoco designed in 1616 the church of S Marta (Lisbon) for the Order of the Poor Clares.

When king Filipe II made his Joyous Entry in Lisbon in 1619, several temporary triumphal arches were erected in the Flemish style of Hans Vredeman de Vries. The tract literature of Wendel Dietterlin^[2] also increased the interest in Flemish Baroque art. This influence can be seen in the façade of the the S Lourenço or Grilos church in Porto, begun in 1622 by Baltasar Alvares.

This was also the period of the rise of the azulejos and the use of carved gilded wood (talha dourada) on altars and ceilings.

[edit] Restoration architecture (1640-1717)

The Baroque style follows naturally from and is the expression of the Contra-Reformation, a reaction of the Roman Catholic Church against the upcoming Protestantism. But since the ideas of protestantism didn’t take root at all in Portugal, the Baroque style didn’t really catch on at a time when it was the prevailing style in the rest of Europe. Furthermore, this style was too much associated with the Jesuits and Spanish rule.

Instead a new style, a transition from the Plain Style to Late Baroque, was adopted when Portugal regained its independence in 1640. It was a period of declining economic and military power, with fewer projects and lesser opulence as a consequence.

José Fernandes Pereira^[3] identified the first period from 1651 to 1690 as a period of experimentation.

• The nobility were the first to show their regained power. A typical example is the Palace of the Marqueses da Fronteira in Benfica (Lisbon) (started in 1667). This country manor house still follows Italian Mannerism examples, but there is already a heavy influence of the Baroque style in the perfect harmony of the house and the surrounding gardens, the splendour of the staircase and the many iconographic, decorative elements in the rooms. The large azulejos (tile panels) covering the walls with equestrian portraits, historical battle scenes or trumpet-blowing monkeys, created by the workshops of Jan van Oort and Willem van der Kloet in Amsterdam, are unique.

• The Piedmontese Theatine priest and architect Camillo-Guarino Guarini designed the church of Santa Maria della Divina Providenca in Lisbon. The elliptical floor plan, adopted in the church, stands apart in the Portuguese 17th century architecture. But his sketchbook however showed a different floor plan and elevation. Even if his designs, influenced by the Roman Baroque architect Francesco Borromini, weren’t exactly followed in this church, they were often publicized and they spread the influence of Borromini in Portugal.^[4]

• Other realisations in this period include :
  • Jacome Mendes : the church of Nossa Senhora da Piedade (in Santarem, 1665)
  • The church of S. Agostinho (1667) in Vila Viçosa
  • João Turriano : the Monastery of S Clara-a-Velha in Coimbra (1649-1696)
  • The church of Portimão, possibly by João Nunes Tinoco (1660).

The next period, between 1690 and 1717, saw the cautious introduction of the Baroque style in Portugal.

The Church of Santa Engrácia (now the National Pantheon of Santa Engracia), begun in 1682 by João Nunes Tinoco and continued by João Antunes is a centralised structure, built in the form of a Greek cross (a cross with arms of equal length), crowned with a central dome (only completed in 1966 !) and the façades are ondulated like in the Baroque designs of Borromini.. It goes back to a design by the Italian architect Donato Bramante of the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. It is perhaps the only truly Baroque building in Portugal. This time Rome, instead of Flanders, became the example to be followed for the construction of buildings.

The church of Senhor da Cruz in Barcelos, built by João Antunes in 1701-1704 is an unusual experiment because of its four-leaf clover plan.

[edit] Baroque style (1717-1755)

The year 1697 is an important year for Portuguese architecture. In that year gold, gems and later diamonds were found in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Mining exploration was strongly controlled by the Portuguese Crown, which imposed heavy taxes on everything extracted (one fifth of all gold would go to the Crown). These enormous proceeds caused Portugal to prosper and become the richest country of Europe in the 18th century. King João V, who reigned between 1706 and 1750, tried to rival the French king Louis XIV, also called the Sun King, by engaging in a large number of expensive building activities. But the French king could rely on local experience for the glorification and his name and of France. The Palace of Versailles was transformed for Louis XIV into a marvelous palace by architect Louis Le Vau, painter and designer Charles Le Brun and the landscape architect André Le Nôtre. The Portuguese king, on the other hand, had to make up the lack of local experience and tradition with foreign artists who were lured to Portugal with huge amounts of money.

King João V squandered his money lavishly, starting numerous building projects, many of which were never finished.

The Mafra National Palace is among the most sumptuous Baroque buildings in Portugal. This monumental palace-monastery-church complex is even larger than the El Escorial, an immense Spanish royal palace north of Madrid to emphasize the symbolic affirmation of his power. The king appointed Johann Friedwig Ludwig (known in Portugal as João Frederico Ludovice) as the architect. This German goldsmith (!) had received some experience as an architect, working for the Jesuits in Rome. His design for the palace is a synthesis of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, the Jesuit Sant'Ignazio church in Rome and the Palazzo Montecitorio, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

This design was in line with the king's desire to imitate the Eternal City, and with his ambition to found a "second Rome" at the river Tagus. His envoys in Rome had to provide the king with models and floor plans of many Roman monuments.

On of these was the Patriarchal palace in Lisbon. The Piedmontese architect Filippo Juvarra was brought to Lisbon to draw up the plans. But this project was also toned down because Juvarra only stayed for a few months and left – against his engagement – to London.

Other important constructions were :

• 1729-1748 : the Águas Livres aqueduct in Lisbon (by Manuel da Maia, Antonio Canevari and Custódio Vieira), described by contemporaties as the ‘greatest work since the Romans’. It provided Lisbon with water, but also the many new monumental fountains built by the Hungarian Carlos Mardel
• 1728-1732 : the Quinta de S Antão do Tojal (by the Italian architect Antonio Canevari)
• 1753 : the Opera house of Lisbon (destroyed 1755) (by Giovanni Carlo Sicinio-Bibiena)
• (completed in 1750) Palácio das Necessidades (by Eugenio dos Santos, Custodio Vieira, Manuel da Costa Negreiros and Caetano Tomas de Sousa)
• from 1747 : the Queluz Palace, the country residence for the king’s younger brother (by Mateus Vicente de Oliveira and Jean-Baptiste Robillon). This palace is the country’s second major example in Baroque style. However the façade shows already some Rococo details.

His most spectacular undertaking was however the building in Rome of the St John the Baptist chapel with the single purpose of obtaining the blessing of the pope Benedict XIV for this chapel. The chapel was designed by Luigi Vanvitelli in 1742 and built by Nicola Salvi in the church S Antonio dei Portoghesi. After the benediction, the chapel was disassembled and transported to Lisbon. It was assembled again in 1747 in the S Roque church. It is opulently decorated with porphyry, the rarest marbles and precious stones. Its design already foreshadows the classical revival.

A different and more exuberant Baroque style with some Rococo touches, more reminiscent of the style in Central Europe, developed in the northern part of Portugal. The Italian architect Nicolau Nasoni designed the church and the spectacular granite tower of São Pedro dos Clérigos in Porto. One of his successors was the painter and architect José de Figueiredo Seixas, who had been one of his disciples. The sanctuary Bom Jesus do Monte near Braga, built by the architect Carlos Luis Ferreira Amarante is a notable example of a pilgrimage site with a monumental, cascading Baroque stairway that climbs 116 metres. This last example already shows the shift in style to Neo-classicism.

The Palácio do Raio (by André Ribeiro Soares da Silva) is an outstanding Baroque-Rococo urban palace with richly decorated façade in Braga. Several country houses and manors in late-Baroque style were built in this period. Typical examples are the homes of the Lobo-Machado family (in Guimaraes), the Malheiro (Viana do Castelo) and the Mateus (Vila Real).

[edit] Pombaline style (1755-1780)

Main article : Pombaline style

The 1755 Lisbon earthquake and the subsequent tsunami and fires destroyed many buildings in Lisbon. Joseph I of Portugal and his Prime Minister Sebastião de Melo, Marquis of Pombal hired architects and engineers to rebuild the damaged portions of Lisbon, including the Pombaline Downtown.

The Pombaline style is a secular, utilitarian architecture marked by pragmatism. It follows the Plain style of the military engineers, with regular, rational arrangements, mixed with Rococo details and a Neo-classical approach to structure. The Baixa district of Lisbon was rebuilt by Eugénio dos Santos and Carlos Mardel. The Marquis of Pombal imposed strict conditions on the rebuilding. Architectural models were tested by having troops march around them to simulate an earthquake, making the Pombaline one of the first examples of earthquake-resistant construction. The Praça do Comércio, the Augusta street and the Avenida da Liberdade are notable examples of this architecture. This Square of Commerce was given a regular, rational arrangement in line with the reconstruction of the new Pombaline Downtown, the Baixa.

The Pombaline style of architecture is also to be found in Vila Real de Santo António (1773–4) a new town in the Algarve, built by Reinaldo Manuel dos Santos. The style is clearly visible in the urban arrangement and especially in the main square.

In Porto, at the initiative of the prison governor João de Almada e Melo, the Rua de S João was reconstructed (after 1757), and the Relação law court, the Court of Appeal Gaol (1765) and the prison were rebuilt. The British colony of port traders introduced the Palladian architecture in the Praça da Ribeira (1776-1782), the Factory House (1785-1790) and the S Antonio Hospital (1770).

[edit] Modern Architecture

One of the top architecture schools in the world, known as "Escola do Porto" or School of Porto, is located in Portugal. Its alumni include Alvaro Siza (winner of a Pritzker prize), Soutinho and Eduardo Souto de Moura.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Kingsley, Karen, Gothic Art, Visigothic Architecture in Spain and Portugal: A Study in Masonry, Documents and Form, 1980; International Census of Doctoral Dissertations in Medieval Art, 1982--1993
• KUBLER, George, y SORIA, Martin, "Art and Architecture in Spain and Portugal and their Dominions, 1500-1800", New York, 1959.
• Kubler, George, "Portuguese Plain Architecture: Between Spices and Diamonds, 1521-1706 " ; Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT 1972; ISBN 0819540455
• Toman, Rolf - Romanik; Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Köln, 1996 (in Dutch translation : Romaanse Kunst : Architectuur, Beeldhouwkunst, Schilderkunst) ISBN 3-89508-449-2
• Toman, Rolf - Barock ; Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Köln, 1997 (in Dutch translation : Barok : Architectuur, Beeldhouwkunst, Schilderkunst); ISBN 3-89508-919-2
• Underwood, D.K. - "The Pombaline Style and International Neoclassicism in Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro."; U. of Pennsylvania Editor, 1988