Overview

The exhibition Projects for the Monastery, held in collaboration with Coimbra City Hall, represents the conclusion of the SANTACRUZ Research Project, funded by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) and based at the Centre for Social Studies and the University of Coimbra.

The SANTACRUZ Project stems out from the state of disintegration in which the old monastic structures are in today, result of the long disassembling process that took place after the abolition of the Religious Orders, in 1834. In 1876-79 the Porter’s Cloister was destroyed to give way to the new City Hall. In 1888, the former Manga Cloister was opened up, leaving out of context its central Renaissance fountain-tempietto. On January 3rd, 1935, the iconic demolition of the monastic bell tower took place.

The SANTACRUZ Project combines three fundamental aspects: historical and documental research, new technologies (through the elaboration of a 3D reconstitution model of the monastery in 1834 and respective apps) and urban and architectural design. The exhibition, held in the former monastic refectory, focuses on this last dimension and presents architectural designs by final year students from the Department of Architecture of the University of Coimbra, coordinated by João Mendes Ribeiro, for the installation of a museum and interpretation center in the Santa Cruz Monastery and surrounding area. Common options are the contemporary recreation of the cloister around the Manga Fountain and the establishment of a new vertical element, as an urban reference, on the site of the old bell tower.

This way, based on the extraordinary symbolic, cultural and artistic legacy of the Monastery of Santa Cruz, and on the concept of “Historic Urban Landscape” recently coined by UNESCO, we suggest a new and mobilizing goal for Coimbra in the 21st century – to articulate with the urbanization of the river bank and with the much needed rehabilitation of Rua da Sofia’s university colleges.

The exhibition also includes the presentation of the recreation of Hodart’s “Last Supper”, a sculptural ensemble today at the Machado de Castro National Museum, displayed through a 3D VideoMapping in its original location. A set of QR Codes, placed at various points of the old monastic dependencies and surrounding areas, allow for the visualization of the monastery in 1834 through personal use smartphones and tablets.

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