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Then it was reported that the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage (DGPC) authorized the dismantling of the remains of the old Lisbon mosque, which are located under the cloister of the Patriarchal Cathedral – a situation denounced by the Archaeological Workers Union (Starq) -, this Wednesday morning the general director invited journalists to visit the site, having stated that “there is no other objective than to protect and enhance these traces.”
But what seemed like an occasion for Bernardo Alabaça to dismantle the union’s arguments, initially presented in a newspaper report Public, ended up serving to counter the position of the Director General of Heritage himself. Two archaeologists responsible for the excavations that are being carried out in the Lisbon Cathedral, with a view to installing an archaeological site open to the public, confirmed to journalists that, after all, “the traces of the old mosque will be removed and destroyed ”. It is a monument dating from the beginning of the 12th century, before the conquest of Lisbon by D. Afonso Henriques, in 1147.
Alexandra Gaspar, one of the two scientific coordinators of the excavation, said: “What the union points out, so do we. I agree with the criticism of dismantling the remains. It could be done in another way, of course, there is always a way at the engineering level. We cannot agree with the destruction of two compartments of a unique monument like this. We leave open the possibility of making a change in the project, so that we can keep these two compartments visible, along with the others that annex them. It depends on political power ”.
The archaeologist signed a technical note favorable to the total conservation of the findings, including those of the mosque and others of Roman origin that are found there, but the DGPC decided otherwise. “We said that we did not agree to dismantle these remains. The higher order was to dismantle it ”. The person who signed this order was the archaeologist Catarina Coelho and the general director of Heritage, Alexandra Gaspar guaranteed.
There being no changes in the decision, in the future archaeological nucleus, only part of the arches of the dressing room of the old mosque will be visible, disappearing the minaret and a wall with a window. “Here is a lost arch, with a concrete wall in front,” described Alexandra Gaspar.
Ana Gomes, the other scientific coordinator, added that the dismantling decision signed by the DGPC is part of the Fundamental Law of Cultural Heritage of 2001. However, “the law must be contextualized,” she said. “The way the laws are used is up to the people. The law says there cannot be [preservação] I know [o vestígio arqueológico] it is not completely excavated. It was done at a time when, with the exception of the most extraordinary things that were excavated in Lisbon, the rest were not [preservado]. “
Place under the cloister of the Cathedral where the minaret of the old mosque is located and that in light of the current project will be partially discarded
Faced with these two opinions, the Director General of Heritage confirmed the musealization of only a few Islamic remains. “We have to have a balance between the preservation of the heritage and the stability of the whole. It is always a difficult balance. It is not only a scientific issue, it is also a security issue, “he said, referring to the alleged risk of collapse of the southern wall of the cloister.
According to the same official, “the intervention foresees the construction of reinforced concrete structures that allow the creation of an archaeological crypt that can be visited.” “These structures have to be planted somewhere, there is no other option, there was no other way.” For Bernardo Alabaça, “the contact of the structures with the ground has some impact on the discovered footprints” and therefore “there was a change to the original project”, starting in 2016.
“At that time the existence of these archaeological remains was unknown. Meanwhile, we adapt the project, minimizing the impact. It cannot be said that there is no impact. There is, but it is also necessary to give stability to this intervention ”, explained Bernardo Alabaça to the Observer.
Despite initially stating that no new alterations to the project to install the archaeological nucleus in the Sé cloisters are foreseen, because it is “at the optimum point”, Bernardo Alabaça ended up granting, at the end of the visit, that this Wednesday request for an extraordinary meeting to the Section of Architectural and Archaeological Heritage, of the National Council of Culture (advisory body of the Government in the field of culture), to comment on possible modifications. That is, to know if the current decision is to maintain or revoke.
“I already said that we will be linked to whatever the result of that opinion is. If the opinion is negative, we have to study alternatives, which means more waiting time ”, guaranteed the general director of Heritage. Bernardo Alabaça and two general deputy directors of Cultural Heritage sit in that section of the CNC, among others, in accordance with the law.
Bernardo Alabaça, General Director of Heritage, visited the Sé works together with Deputy Director João Carlos dos Santos on Wednesday
For her part, archaeologist Catarina Coelho, director of the DGPC’s department of cultural assets, declared that “there is no contradiction between the technical note and the dispatch.”
“The archaeological colleagues responsible for the ongoing intervention advocate that in the place the vestige of the bench and the structure of the locker room and the base of the minaret. The hierarchical order, without prejudice to the heritage value of the vestiges, was carried out taking into account the opinion of the designer, according to which the stabilization project must be carried out under penalty of collapse of part of the south wall of the Cathedral. It is not the thing. what I would like the most, but as a member of a hierarchy I had to decide for the safety of the building and the people ”, explained Catarina Coelho.
Outside the Cathedral, after the visit to the ruins, was the union leader Jacinta Bugalhão (who is also an archaeologist for the DGPC). She stated that “the claim that it is necessary to destroy part of the mosque due to stability problems first appeared in a statement from the DGPC in response to last week’s news.” “I am absolutely shocked by this strategy of the DGPC, it is an excuse to excuse the inexcusable,” he said.
“DGP, which had this process under lock and key, made this decision and expected it to pass. But this reached the public sphere. The archaeologists could not swallow this and began to speak, thus the information reached the guild. And only then did the DGPC raise from on high this wonderful argument that the cloister is falling. Are the poor in the mosque ruins endangering the cloister wall? They are joking, maybe they think people are stupid. There is no information in this process that says that the conservation of these ruins puts the Sé cloister or the Sé itself at risk.
Together with Regis Barbosa, union president, Jacinta Bugalhão reaffirmed what was already contained in a union statement issued on Monday: “This process is secret, it is a law that is public, but nobody sees it.” She also said that Starq has not yet asked to see the case, because she is reacting to information that came to her a few days ago through unionized archaeologists, but suggested having reliable information on her side.
Union and Forum demand that the DGPC justify the “destruction” of the old Lisbon mosque
The union member welcomed the announcement that the DGPC will request an opinion from the National Council of Culture. “I’m glad, because that’s how the law is fulfilled.” At the moment, he stressed, “the order that allows affecting the mosque is null, it is illegal, because it comes from an organ that is not competent.” “The DGPC can propose, it can take the matter to the National Council of Culture, it can take it to the minister, but it cannot decide by itself and that is what it did.”
If the opinion of the CNC is to uphold the current decision, Jacinta Bugalhão raises a challenge scenario. “In this remote hypothesis, we are going to dispute, what is done in a democracy. There are technical, scientific and legal challenges ”.
In the interpretation of Jacinta Bugalhão, the DGPC decided to affect part of the remains of the mosque because “it is difficult to change the current requalification project”, “which is expensive, laborious and difficult”, and because “there are time and there must be openings ”with“ the manager who is there to open ”.
The work of “recovery and recovery” of the archaeological remains of the Sé de Lisboa was awarded by the Cabido da Sé Metropolitana de Lisboa for about four million euros and has the DGPC as the managing entity and responsible for the intervention. The architect Adalberto Dias, responsible for the project, was not present this Wednesday.
The archaeological exploration of the area began in 1990 and lasted until 2004, having been resumed for a few months between 2010 and 2011. The current archaeological campaign began in November of last year and in this context, new and unexpected ones have already emerged this year acts. vestiges of the old mosque.
“They are unique in the peninsula and in Morocco. Almoravid mosques like this one have a parallel only in Algeria ”, reported archaeologist Alexandra Gaspar. “He was buried from the end of the 12th century, when the cloister of the Cathedral was built”.
