Extended Abstract

O Palácio Alvor From an 18th century aristocratic residence to National Museum of Ancient Art

Matilde Brito da Cruz Forjaz Secca

Thesis to obtain the Master of Science Degree in

Architecture

Supervisor: Professor Doutor João Rosa Vieira Caldas

Examination Committee Chairperson: Prof. Doutora Ana Paula Filipe Tomé

Supervisor: Prof. Doutor João Rosa Vieira Caldas

Member of the Committee: Prof. Doutora Maria Alexandra De Lacerda Nave Alegre

May 2018

The National Museum of Ancient Art (MNAA), in Lisbon is based, since its origin in 1911, in

the Alvor Palace. Currently the museum also occupies the Santo Alberto Church and a side building

built in the first half of the 20th century that we refer to as “Anexo”. The church belonged to the

Convent of Santo Alberto, the religious building that was side by side with the Alvor Palace.

Given the importance of the MNAA in the art and museology in Portugal, there are a lot of

published books and studies about it. However, most of the literature about the MNAA is focused

solemnly in its history as a museum, its collections and its exhibitions. Until this moment there wasn’t

an investigation work about the Alvor Palace’s building, with its formal, functional and spatial analysis.

Moreover, there wasn’t any study made from an architectural perspective.

The aim of this research study was to elaborate plans of the Alvor Palace’s original state and

plans of states of the building after suffering considerable alterations. These plans document the

building evolution over its existence of more than 300 years.

Figure 1 Aerial View of the MNAA building1, 2018

The Alvor Palace is located in Santos, an area that was crossed by the road that exited Lisbon

in the west direction. Since the 16th century that religious communities and noble families chose this

area to build their convents and palaces.

The palace featured in this article was built only in the end of the 17th century, with references

pointing to 1698 as the year the construction started2. The palaces built in Lisbon during the transition

between the 17th and the 18th centuries share several features:

• Regular distribution of openings (a consequence of the concern of creating a façade coherent

with other buildings in the street).

• Standardised French windows design.

• Internal organization in 3 or 4 floors 1Bing Maps2 José Sarmento MATOS - Dicionário da Arte Barroca em Portugal. Lisboa : Editorial Presença, 1989 2 José Sarmento MATOS - Dicionário da Arte Barroca em Portugal. Lisboa : Editorial Presença, 1989

Other common traits between these noble residences are the accentuated horizontality, the

sober design of the outside and the façade stone frame (made from socle, corner stones and cornice).

The Alvor Palace has, naturally, these same traits. However, it has an innovative interior

solution: the palace has two portals, allowing carriages to drop visitors inside of the building by

entering through one of the portals and exiting through the other. Another palace that has the same

entrance configuration is Bemposta Palace, designed by João Antunes (1642-1712) around the same

time. This architect was responsible for many other projects of noble residences and, given the

similarity between Bemposta Palace and Alvor Palace, it is possible that he was also the author of

Alvor Palace’s.

Figure 2 Bemposta Palace Portals, 2018

Figure 3 Alvor Palace Portals, 2018

Other fact that supports the theory of João Antunes being the architect that designed Alvor

Palace is the palace’s stairs configuration. It was an innovative solution, in Portuguese context,

especially for civil architecture. This configuration had been used in Jerónimos Monastery, in a

construction campaign where Antunes worked in the end of the 17th century. It is possible that this

architect was the first using this stair type in civil architecture.

Figure 4 Alvor Palace main stairs, 2018

D. Francisco de Távora, 1st Count of Alvor, commissioned the construction of the

palace. He was Angola’s Governor until 1681 and then he was nominated Portuguese India’s viceroy,

having returned to Portugal in 1686. The palace’s commission was probably motivated by the need to

build a house that would reflect his new social status.

It is likely that the original project intended a symmetrical building. It is known through the

testaments of the family members of the Távora family that they were wanted to buy some properties

to complete the building construction. Nevertheless the east wing of the palace was left unbuilt.

1698

Little information is known about the original project of the palace. It is known that the central

section of the building is original because a coat of arms of the Távora family was found there during a

façade intervention in 1930. The northwest wing is also likely original as the two rooms on the top of

the wing have their ceilings painted by Vincenzo Bacherelli, an Italian artist that worked in Portugal

during the first two decades of the 18th century. If these two ceiling have their paintings, probably the

entire wing had painted ceilings by the same artist. Lastly, from the investigation we concluded that

the small courtyard that existed in 1931 (know from as-built architectural plans) existed since the initial

construction.

In its more than 300 years of existence, the building was used for two different purposes: it

was until the end of the 19th century an aristocratic house and, in 1883, was officially housing the Fine-

Arts Museum. The Fine-Arts Museum was separated in 1911 in two different museums, the MNAA

and the Museum of Contemporary Art. In the palace remained the MNAA, museum that nowadays is

still housed in the same building.

During the first period the house belonged to aristocratic families such as the Távoras and the

Marquis of Pombal, but also to other important families. The Dutch consul Daniel Gildemeester, in

particular, leased the palace during 30 years, financing important renovations.

1774

The renovations ordered by the Dutch consul, in 1774, changed the original design of the

palace. The lease contract of the same year and the testimonies from construction masters of this

same intervention allowed the elaboration of the hypothetical plan of the palace after 1774.

It was possible to understand where, at that time, were located the corridors, the courtyard,

the kitchen, the secondary stairs connecting floors. The lease contract referred the construction of a

new wing, and it was also possible to understand to which area this “wing” concerned. The

construction of the attic, above the reconstructed area of the main floor (the new wing) happened also

during this year. Furthermore, we also proposed the non-confirmed existence of a communication

between the palace and the church. When palaces were built side by side with convents, it was

common that the noble families used the convent church to attend religious ceremonies from a special

place near the chancel. This special place was usually accessible from the main floor of the palace

and the family members didn’t have to go outside the palace to attend religious cerimonies.

Figure 5 Partial Hypothetical Plan of the configuration of Alvor Palace in 1698. The grey region

corresponds to the area that wasn’t possible to know how it

Figure 6 Hypothetical Plan of the configuration of Alvor Palace after 1774

1883

When the Alvor Palace changed its function to accommodate de Fine-Arts Museum, it

suffered new construction works. Given the little budget and time — as the exhibition Exposição

Retrospectiva de Arte Ornamental Portugueza e Hespanhola was happening soon after the lease of

the building — the interventions were mainly regarding the demolition of walls (making bigger rooms to

exhibit the collection), the substitution of pavements and the creating of passages to the rear garden.

1931 The museum director soon felt the need to expand the museum building as the collection was

growing. During the 30’s the architect Guilherme Rebelo de Andrade was given the task to project a

new building on the area west to the palace, where the convent used to be (by 1918 it had already

been demolished, with the exception of its church).

In order to have information on the existing building the as-built technical drawings were

made. This is the most important documentation about the palace’s building because it is its oldest

accurate record. The proposed plans we drew as the hypothetical of earlier configurations of the

building were made based on these 1931 drawings and supported by the written descriptions of the

interventions.

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Figure 7 Hypothetical Plan of the configuration of Alvor Palace after 1883

Figure 8 As-built plans in 1931

1940

The construction of the “Anexo” was finished in 1940 and incorporated in its volume the

church of the convent.

Also in 1940 the same architect designed another extension project that consisted in the

construction of the east wing of the palace. This is the wing that it we believe had been desired since

the original project of the palace. With the construction of the east wing, the palace would finally be

symmetrical.

The new wing enabled the existence of 6 new exhibition rooms, a library and a conference

room. The already existing palace also suffered huge modifications: the intermediate floor was

eliminated so that the ground floor rooms could have higher ceilings. This change implied that all the

secondary stairs in the palace were eliminated. New stairs were built to connect the remaining floors

of the building.

1992

When preparing the palace to accommodate an exhibition during the 90’s, it was discovered

that the building was in such a deep level of deterioration it had to be closed.

The project was assigned to the architecture studio Arqui III. The internal organization of the

palace was changed as they decided to relocate the administration and staff offices on the attic,

liberating space on the ground floor for more exhibiting rooms.

On the basement level excavations were made and in this new area the cafeteria and the

restaurant were installed.

These alterations in the building brought it to that state and configuration we know today.

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Figure 9 Plans of the expansion project of Alvor Palace in 1940 Figure 10 As-built Plans from 21st century reflecting last intervention (1992-94) on the building

In conclusion, the earlier record of the palace’s configuration was from 1931, meaning that

only less than the last third of the building’s life was known. The plan of the configuration of the

building after the construction works of 1774 proposed on this work leaves partially unknown only the

first 76 years of the building.

Given the fact that the presented plans were based on every information presently available

about the MNAA and its building, the prospect of ever discovering the original configuration of the

palace depends on the discovery of documentation unknown till now or on the execution of a deep

archaeology study, something that is very unlikely to happen in the next years, given the fact that no

construction projects are planned for the near future.

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