Barbican Path

The Barbican path, as a significant part of the defensive system of Monsaraz, defines a perimeter route outside the walls, between the village gate, to the east and the gate of Évora to the west.

The redefinition of the Barbican path along the curtained escarpment seeks to stabilize its old route and restore the continuity of transition between the territory, the extraordinary cultural landscape to the west and the walled town of Monsaraz. The restoration of this route in traditional schist paving, allows to consolidate the transition between the vertical plane of the wall, in apparent schist masonry, and the horizontal plane defined by the path and the rocky escarpment where the village of Monsaraz is located.

The schist pavements of Monsaraz are one of its hallmarks and also represent a complex system for the conduction of rainwater, based on the structure of guides that draw the water's path. All the specific interventions now proposed for the floors of Monsaraz seek to continue this system, optimizing the flow of water to the outside of the walls. As is the case with the Restoration of the wall section of the roundabout.

At the end of the important drainage channel of Travessa Quebra-Costas, it is proposed to give architectural expression to the existing gargoyle, which seems to be insufficient for the flow that this artery supports, transforming it into a piece of granite, integrated into the wall, which projects the rainwater to another lower gargoyle, which collects the water at the level of the Barbacan path (a significant part of the population between this area and the festoon line drains to this point) and leads it to a natural flow downstream. This piece gives expression to a critical point of the Monsaraz drainage, formalizing an element that is also exceptional. The objective is to ensure that the rainwater runoff is optimally conducted to the outside of the walls, without causing erosion of the paths and walls of the wall.

The occasional use of corten steel elements, as external material, is used only in situations of transition between Barbacã and the outside of the wall, characterized by the vertical elements that define the lighting and by the external staircase to the wall and connecting the Porta da Traição to the Revelins that add to the topography. In the transition between the fortification and the landscape, the oxide color of the corten steel is linked to the colors of the terrain.

AC 2021

PP 2021

Before the Project

Works in Progress