Name of Monument:

Episcopal Palace Gate

Also known as:

Mozarab Gate

Location:

Coimbra, Portugal

Date of Monument:

12th century (?)

Period / Dynasty:

Mozarab

Description:

A double gate providing access through a wall which ceased to be visible when the Episcopal Palace, now occupied by the Machado de Castro National Museum, was built. The two horseshoe arches facing one another are surrounded by a rectangular frame or alfiz, and topped by a sequence of 16th-century-style merlons, when this structure was integrated into the Episcopal Palace itself. It is not impossible that this gate may have belonged to a wall that surrounded the upper town, which in the Islamic period would have included a military zone to the east, and a citadel to the west, a palace with four corner towers, today adapted into the central building of the university. There is an indication that there was another gate of the same kind – also with two horseshoe arches facing one another – on the south side, which is known from a 19th-century engraving and which was called the Porta da Genicoca or Porta de Ibn Bodron.
From the way that the masonry is cut and laid and from the way that the arches stand on side posts without springers, it would appear to be a work built after the conquest of the city by the feudal Christian soldiers, in 1064. This apparent incongruity between a construction which is formally similar to what was being built at the time in the Almohad south and the new order imposed by the conquerors, can be explained by the presence of a strong Mozarab community which, in the early years, managed to impose its ceremonies and its tastes. It is curious to note that in the vicinity, on one of the walls of the Old Cathedral, also built in the 12th century, an inscription in Arabic reads as follows: 'This I write as a permanent record of my suffering. My hand will one day perish, but greatness will remain'. As well as the old Mozarab community of the region, even after the establishment of the new authorities, innumerable Moorish or Mudéjar communities undoubtedly remained here, working on constructions in the city and also certainly on the so-called Mozarab or Episcopal Palace Gate.

This double-fronted gate through the town wall disappeared from view when the Episcopal Palace, now the home of the Machado de Castro Museum, was built. The two horseshoe arches are framed by an alfiz panel and crowned by 16th-century-style merlons from the time when the structure was integrated into the palace. This gateway may have belonged to a wall around the upper town.
The shape and layout of the ashlars, and the way the arches sit on the abutments with no springers suggest that it was built after the conquest of the town by Christian feudal troops in 1064.

How Monument was dated:

From the shape of the arch of the double gate, from the way the arch stones are arranged and from the style of the ashlar masonry.

Selected bibliography:

Marques, A. H. de O., “O Portugal Islâmico”, in Nova História de Portugal, Vol. II, ed. J. Serrão and A. H. de O. Marques, Lisbon, 1993.
Martins, A. F., “A Porta do Sol, Contribuição para o Estudo da Cerca Medieval Coimbrã”, Biblos, Vol. XXVII, Coimbra, 1951, pp.321–59.
Simões, A. F., Relíquias da Arquitectura Romano-Bizantina em Portugal e Particularmente na Cidade de Coimbra, Lisbon, 1870.
Torres, C., “O Gharb al ândalus”, in História de Portugal, ed. J. Mattoso, Vol. 1, Lisbon, pp.363–415.

Citation of this web page:

Cláudio Torres "Episcopal Palace Gate" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;pt;Mon01;4;en

Prepared by: Cláudio TorresCláudio Torres

Cláudio Figueiredo Torres, licenciado em História e História da Arte pelas universidades de Bucareste e Lisboa e Doutor “Honoris Causa” pela Universidade de Évora, é director do Campo Arqueológico de Mértola que fundou em 1978. Foi agraciado com o Prémio Pessoa em 1991.
Depois do 25 de Abril de 1974, durante vários anos foi docente de História Medieval e Arqueologia islâmica na Universidade de Lisboa, chefe da Divisão Cultural da Câmara Municipal de Mértola e Director do Parque Natural do Vale do Guadiana. Desde 2004 é coordenador em Portugal do Programa EUROMED- Fundação Anna Linht. Nos últimos 30 anos tem dedicado a sua investigação e publicado vários trabalhos sobre a civilização islâmica em Portugal.
Translation by: Gilla Evans
Translation copyedited by: Monica Allen

MWNF Working Number: PT E