Fig.1 View of the cloister with bell tower and gothic arcade
The rehabilitation and restoration work of the Santa Clara Convent in Funchal (Fig.1) allowed the recovery of part of its lost splendor and the discovery of features that were thought to be lost or not known to exist.
The Santa Clara Convent in Funchal, built between 1492 and 1497, it’s a heritage of unquestionable cultural value, and is made up of various representative spaces from the 16th to the 19th centuries: convent, church, choirs, cloister and garden, chapels, and bell tower. It is classified as a National Monument.
At its foundation, King Manuel I, offered income and allowed the nuns to inherit properties, which contributed to the enrichment of the convent. With the extinction of the religious orders in Portugal in 1834, the building was incorporated into the State, some goods were sold at public auction and the building was left vacant and deteriorating.
Then, in 1896, the Portuguese Province of the Institute of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary was established in the convent and in the 1920s a crèche for disadvantaged children was installed responding to the social inequalities existing in Funchal.
Due to the need to create adequate spaces for the crèche and congregation, existing unused spaces suffered many alterations and demolitions. In the 1950s, the idea of freeing the heritage from all constructions that were not original was common, with several existing chapels being demolished.
Its historical and cultural value, associated with numerous interventions it has undergone since its initial construction, have given the building unique specificities and great complexity in defining intervention processes and methodologies, with the aim of preserving and safeguarding its historical characteristics, adapting the spaces, and enhancing the visit.
The recovery and restoration of the monument was under preparation by the Direção Regional da Cultura – DRC (Regional Directorate of Culture) for several years. In 2019, through an application to the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), it was possible to start the intervention to improve the spaces that constitute the visitable areas and to guarantee its preservation.
The architectural project was joined by the building’s monumental lighting projects, fire safety, intrusion detection, the reinforcement of floors in the exhibition areas and the remodelling of electrical and telecommunications installations. The work also included the alteration of the cloister garden and the implementation of accessibility conditions for disabled people.
This was followed by interventions for the conservation and restoration of the movable and integrated movable heritage, which included elements in gilded woodcarving, sculpture, painting, and tiles.
Parallel to the intervention, archaeological excavations were also carried out, with collection of assets, which allowed a better understanding of the daily life of the Poor Clare nuns at this convent. The works were finished in May 2023.
During the intervention several elements were discovered:
Bell tower weathervane
With the assembling of the scaffolding to place the lighting equipment in the bell tower and to support the restoration of the dome’s tiles, access to the weathervane was possible.
It was found that its fixing axis was completely corroded, and the image no longer rotated. It was quite dilapidated, with visible cracks in the metal, riveted patches made previously, and, most importantly, it showed traces of polychromy. In addition to the angel’s silhouette, decoration was visible on the boots, hair and even the arm and hand gathered near the waist.
For these reasons the decision was made to remove the weathervane and expose it inside, next to the entrance to the bell tower, for subsequent conservation and restoration work. In its place, a faithful replica in copper was placed.
Mural over the church’s triumphal arch
Old photographs of the convent church showed trompe-l’oeil painting of curtains on the wooden panels surrounding the triumphal arch. However, when the intervention started, there were no traces of polychromy, this area being painted white (Fig. 2).
During the conservation and restoration work on this area it was discovered that the original painting was still in place. After carrying out some preparatory tests, where it was possible to anticipate the state of conservation of the underlying painting, the layer of paint was carefully removed, and the original painting was subsequently restored (Fig. 3).
Tile friezes on the nave of the church
In the mid-20th century, there were water leaks in the church’s roof which were causing the tiles on the friezes located at the top of the side walls of the church nave to detach and fall. Some of the tiles were broken and lost and probably the workers who replaced the remaining tiles on the friezes on site did not have adequate training for this work, nor did they have the needed technical support, meaning that the tiles were placed out of their correct order, with several missing and being replaced by random ones (Fig. 4).
During the intervention carried out, a photographic simulation of the complete frieze pattern was made, allowing the identification of the tiles belonging to the frieze pattern and those that did not. After removing it from the wall, it was checked how many tiles were missing to correctly reconstruct the friezes. Scrupulous replicas of the missing tiles were made, and the friezes were redone by replacing the tiles in their original location (Fig. 5).
Altars
From the beginning of this project there was the conviction that there could be dismantled altars due to the number of large columns stored. Some historical research carried out during the intervention allowed us to find old photographs relating to two altars: that of Bom Jesus and that of São João Baptista.
By observing the two images, it was possible to identify and gather the pieces corresponding to each altar, allowing them to be reassembled. It was also found that two paintings on the altar of Bom Jesus, the Christ and the Virgin, and the central painting on the altar of São João Baptista, were now part of the collection of the Museum of Sacred Art in Funchal. The museum temporarily provided these 3 paintings, and they are currently placed on the altars. The altar of Bom Jesus is reconstituted in the chapel of the Santíssimo Sacramento, and the altar of São João Baptista was installed in the exhibition room, since its original chapel was demolished in the 20th century.
But there were still a large group of pieces of similar style, some even with fittings in the wood, which included 6 columns, 3 niches and 2 paintings with the same height and 4 smaller columns and 2 correspondents’ panels, all with the same type of decoration. An interpretative reading of the various fragments was carried out, using formal, decorative, and dimensional analogy. A scaled photographic simulation was made, which allowed its virtual assembly, confirming that all the pieces fitted together (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6. Rehearsal with parts from the church’s old main altar before reconstruction (Archive DRC)
Due to its large dimensions, around 6 m high, (the total would be approximately 7.50 m, including the altar table, now missing) this could have been the original altar of the church’s main chapel, prior to the one from 1797 which is located on site. If so, this altar was dismantled for more than 200 years.
As there were currently no areas in the convent high enough to accommodate it, the decision was made to display it on an inclined structure and creating a small platform on the opposite wall so that one can better appreciate its splendor (Fig. 7) It was a remarkable discovery, of which there was no knowledge, since to date no photographic or written records of this element have been found.
Fig. 7. Reconstitution of the old main altar (Archive DRC)
Ceiling
Fig. 8. Graphical simulation of the ceiling (Archive DRC)
Among the existing collection of disassembled pieces in the convent, several polychromatic boards of which the origin was not known stood out. Each board had a different type of decoration, with no continuity between them. Finally, it was possible to understand that they were part of the same ceiling, in which the 8 boards on each level of the octagon repeat the same design, with all levels having different decorations.
Through a scaled photographic simulation, Fig. 8, it was possible to confirm the morphology of the ceiling and the way in which the boards fit together. In the old engraving with the Bom Jesus altar, it is possible to identify a board with the same design as this ceiling, thus confirming that both would belong to the same chapel. It must be from a regional manufactory, from the 18th century and was reconstituted in the chapel of the Santíssimo Sacramento, in the cloister (Fig. 9).
With the conclusion of the recovery works and with the results of the conservation and restoration interventions, it was possible to develop the museology and museography project that makes it possible to make known the monument and its heritage, through the correct reading and interpretation of the spaces that can be visited, the reconstitution of areas that were lost in interventions carried out previously and the adequate exposure of a vast estate that until now it was not possible to share.
Fig. 9. Reassembled ceiling boards (Archive DRC)
TEAM
PROJECT – DRC/DSPC
Francisco Clode de Sousa (coordination)
Carolina Ferreira, Cora Teixeira, Laura Joana Abreu, Paulo Ladeira, Rita Rodrigues, Teresa de Deus Ferreira
CONSTRUCTION WORKS
Tecnovia Madeira, Sociedade de Empreitadas, S.A.
CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION
In Situ – Conservação e Restauro de Bens Culturais, Lda.
DGPC – Laboratório José de Figueiredo (Elsa Murta e Mercês Lorena)
DGPC – Museu Nacional do Azulejo (Lurdes Esteves)
Article by
Teresa Deus Ferreira, Senior Architect – Direção Regional da Cultura, Secretaria Regional de Economia, Turismo e Cultura, Autonomous Region of Madeira, Portugal (teresa.nd.ferreira@madeira.gov.pt)
Laura Joana Abreu, Senior Architect – Direção Regional da Cultura, Secretaria Regional de Economia, Turismo e Cultura, Autonomous Region of Madeira, Portugal, joana.abreu@madeira.gov.pt
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