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Monastic Buildings: A Review About New Uses on Former Monasteries. The Portuguese Cistercian Case

Publication . Martins, Ana Maria Tavares; Pérez-Cano, Maria Teresa; Mosquera-Adell, Eduardo

This paper aims to present a review contribution to the history of the reform and renewal in the Portuguese Cistercian monasteries, throughout nine centuries of cultural and architectural history, but focusing on the new uses on former monasteries. The monastic Orders had a vital importance, both temporal and spatial, in the development of the urban fabric of cities. It must be considered that the transformation and development of the territory have been responsible for isolated buildings and settlements which have gradually been absorbed by the expansion of the urban fabric. The Cistercian Order played a remarkable role in the affirmation of Portugal (1143) and had an unquestionable position, since the medieval period, in the construction of a significant part of the Portuguese culture. The first Cistercian monasteries appeared in Portugal, in the 12th century, far from the urban context. Portuguese Cistercian monasteries became worthy examples of the European Cistercian architecture, although, over the time, they have been adapted, enlarged and transformed according to the styles of each epoch. The disappearance of the religious Orders, in 1834, and the successive owners adapted the monastic buildings to new uses. The monasteries have provided the contemporary city, especially from the 19th and 20th centuries, with expectant spaces or new ﬁelds of experimentation as diverse as rehabilitation, reuse, renovation and conversion. These are new spaces which adapt to new situations and new uses, thus updating themselves, so that the values of the present can be included and integrated into its history. Therefore, this paper aims to discuss, in which way the ideals and the realities of these monastic buildings and related urban spaces are divergent, but also a factor of city growth and cultural development.

2019Journal article

Open access

Essence of Daylight in the Cistercian Monastic Church of S. Bento de Cástris, Évora, Portugal

Publication . Martins, Ana Maria Tavares; Carlos, Jorge S.

Natural light in the Cistercian churches is closely linked not only with the liturgical requirements at the “officium” but also with the canonical hours based on the "ora et labora" dictated by the Rule of St. Benedict. The Cistercian architecture, in its beginnings (12th century forward) is characterized by austerity, simplicity and the play of light and shadow that gives value to the monastic architectural space itself, making it perfect for a contemplative experience. In the Cistercian Monastery the church is the central piece of the monastic building. Nave, transept and apse are the main architectural components to which is added the choir. This paper contextualizes the importance and close connections of natural light, within the Cistercian Monasteries architecture. Thus the essence of daylight is analyzed within the Church of the Monastery of S. Bento de Cástris, in Évora, Portugal. This former Monastery (13th - 19th centuries) includes the church, at the southeastern corner which has not only a high choir, but also a low lateral choir (within the presbytery). Its unchanged exterior walls are made of solid masonry. Although the function of the walls is primarily structural, the windows allow the daylight to penetrate the space of the church. The church has two external façades facing northeast and southeast. The combined orientation effect of the church’s main axis and the sun trajectory determines how the sunlight reaches the interior of this architectural structure. This study presents the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the luminous environment in the church of S. Bento de Cástris, being the first based on the authors’ perception of the effect of the daylight within the different areas of the enclosed space. The appreciation of the spatial experiences was supported by quantitative daylight simulations that were conducted in selected areas within the space. With this paper is intended to contribute to the debate about the specificity of daylight, in the context of Cistercian architecture.

2017Journal article

Open access

Built Heritage Research and History of Architecture: Light and Acoustic in the Cistercian Monastic Church of S. Bento de Cástris (Portugal)

Publication . Martins, Ana Maria Tavares; Carlos, Jorge S.

The research on the Cistercian legacy in Portugal is an innovative multidisciplinary study. Consequently, the results achieved in this research have many different approaches: the former monasteries and their architecture are the main subjects concerning morphology, architectonic rehabilitation but also acoustics, thermal comfort, or natural light. This research, carried out at the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture of the University of Beira Interior (DECA-UBI), was developed in connection with two other research centres - Lab2PT (Landscape, Heritage and Territory Laboratory) and CIDEHUS (Interdisciplinary Centre for History, Culture and Societies). In 2015, the curriculum of the Integrated Master Degree in Architecture of the University of Beira Interior underwent revision. Consequently, it was needed to allocate more time to the teaching of History of Architecture and the requirement to assign specific syllabus to the Portuguese History of Architecture, which is emphasized by the specific and multidisciplinary research performed linking with other sciences of engineering. The natural light in the Cistercian churches is closely linked not only with the liturgical requirements at the officium but also with the canonical hours based on the "ora et labora" dictated by the Rule of St. Benedict. The Cistercian Monastery of São Bento de Cástris (13th-19th centuries), in Évora, Portugal, includes a church, at the south-eastern corner. This church presents an unusual space setting with two choirs which seems to favour different positions for coral groups supporting liturgical and musical expression activities within the research scope of a Research Project. As the light in the Cistercian Monasteries, mainly, in their churches, is mostly related to the fulfilment of liturgical needs, this paper analyses the relationship between daylight conditions within the monastic choirs located within the monastic church. The chant was a very important way of oration and thus of the liturgy. This was the ORFEUS Project – “The Tridentine Reform and music in the cloistral silence: The Monastery of S. Bento de Cástris” which was based on a multidisciplinary approach around the Tridentine Reform with reflexes in the musical Cistercian feminine matrix between the 16th and 18th centuries on Cistercian Monasteries. This paper describes the objectives and methodology applied to the case study thus linking Built Heritage Research and History of Architecture, i.e., Research and Education.

2019Journal article

Open access

From the Cloister to the City: Approaches to the Cistercian Land Management

Publication . Martins, Ana Maria Tavares

The first Cistercian monasteries appeared in Portugal in the 12th century. The Portuguese Cistercian monasteries were set to the image of Clairvaux, the Cistercian branch which they mostly came from and which defined the typology of the place. Cistercian foundations were usually built in valleys, but many Portuguese Cistercian monasteries are the result of affiliations rather than foundations. There is a great concentration of monasteries in the north and centre of the country as opposed to all the territory to the south of the river Tagus. History and strong climatic contrasts had their repercussion in the implantation of the Cistercian monasteries in this territory. However, implantation errors happened and, for that reason, it was possible to change the site (as permitted by the Cistercian legislation) that is the change of a monastery from one place to another (as was the case of the Monastery of Santa Maria de Salzedas or the Monastery of S. Pedro das Águias). In a Cistercian monastery, water was an essential resource, not only essential to everyday life, regarding hygiene and energy needs, but it also had a very specific meaning and symbolism. 12th-century Cistercian hydraulic system was something extraordinarily new and water was always a constant element in the choice of Cistercian implantation sites. Some monasteries were the origin of settlements, thus reaching some important features and dimensions. This was the cases of Odivelas, which was settled alongside the Monastery of S. Dinis de Odivelas. and of the city of Alcobaça or Valado dos Frades (former farm of the "Coutos" of Alcobaça). The monastic space can be understood as a territorial organism in the way that it adapts itself to the territory, thus modelling and altering it according to its needs. In fact, this paper aims at discussing this process regarding not only the specificities of Portugal, as a country, but also the specificities of the Cistercian land management since the 12th century: this is from the cloister to the city.

2019Journal article

Open access

Deconstruction: Between Icon and Architectural Landmark, Two Spanish Examples

Publication . Martins, Ana Maria Tavares; Rodrigues, Tiago

The 20th century was a period in the history of humanity that was marked by numerous technological advances, many discoveries and achievements in terms of knowledge, science and the arts, as well as numerous changes and political restructuring. In the Human Sciences, especially in Philosophy, new concepts and thoughts that marked and conquered the opinions of the intellectuals of that time emerged. One of these new concepts was the “Deconstruction” around the 60s of that century. The term “Deconstruction” was used for the first time by the philosopher Jacques Derrida in his work “De Grammatologie” in 1967. Deconstructivist Architecture emerged in the 80s of the 20th century. Deconstruction had as the main intention the rediscovery of new values, through the contrast of concepts, and the suppression of Modernism. Architecture was no exception, because new thoughts, styles, movements and new constructive techniques arose, which produced and caused a (re)affirmation of Architecture in society, through the implementation of new configurations and modern spatial conceptions. “Deconstruction”, as an architectural movement, arose from the fusion of the Russian Constructivism and other movements related to the philosophical concept of “Deconstruction” presented by Jacques Derrida. But it is the 1988 exhibition “Deconstructivist Architecture” organized by Marc Wigley and Philip Johnson at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), in New York, that acknowledges Deconstruction in Architecture. Frank Gehry, Peter Eisenman, Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, Coop Himmelb(l)au, and Bernard Tschumi were the avant-garde architects featured in this exhibition. On the 25th anniversary of the exhibition, MoMA curator Barry Bergdoll hosted “Deconstructivism: Retrospective Views and Actuality”, which traced the subsequent careers of that seven architects to examine the impact of the exhibition and the changes in architecture in those 25 years. This paper identifies the Deconstruction concepts that were the basis of deconstructivist architecture but keeping in mind that Iconic deconstructivist architects were not committed completely to all concepts of this philosophy as they produced their architectural objects. Two iconic buildings as Peter Eisenman’s City of Culture outside Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (Spain) are presented to achieve the debate.

2019Journal article

Open access