The construction of the new facilities for the Pombaline Reformation of the University of Coimbra, directed by William Elsden

Abstract

About three years ago, we began a process of systematic comparison between the written documentation concerning the Pombaline Reformation of the University of Coimbra (1772-1777) and the surveys, drawings and designs for the new scientific buildings, directed and produced by the British Lieutenant Colonel William Elsden. To that effect, we submitted a paper for the conference cycle «The University of Coimbra on the way to Contemporaneity», for the 19th Cultural Week of the University of Coimbra (dedicated to the theme «Who are we?»), which took place at Casa das Caldeiras in Coimbra, on 27 April, 2017. The following year, we coordinated an exhibition of drawings of the Pombaline Reformation at the Machado de Castro National Museum (with Virginia Gomes, from October 2018 to February 2019). In this occasion, we were able to lay out a large collection of graphic pieces chronologically, a sequence which validated and reinforced our previous understanding of the facts. In this article (which is largely the result of the 2017 paper), we have resumed this creation of a chronological basis for dating some key designs that were built in the short span of just over a year, between late 1772 and early 1774. This sequence shows how the architecture of the Pombaline Reformation increased in scale and urban impact during this period, particularly in the designs of scientifi c institutions such as the Astronomical Observatory and the Chemical Laboratory. This increase was due, in part, to the natural development of the proposals, but also, and to a large extent, to Elsden’s competent performance and to the growing enthusiasm of the Marquis de Pombal towards the new designs.