3rd meeting of young researchers at UP 1 - IJUP - Universidade do ...

History of Art’s role in a world heritage city. A case study: Oporto.
A. Bessa 1 , D. Cunha 1 , D. Loureiro 1 , H. Barreira 1 , M. Coelho 1 , M. Resende 1 and M. Melo 1
1 História da Arte, Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Portugal.
To the most recent notions of heritage we found directly linked the concepts of authenticity,
imperative to a classification, and multidisciplinarity, essential to its valorisation. A city’s
artistic heritage, its conservation and valorisation are some of the driving forces to obtain the
title of World Heritage Site. With this project, we aim to evaluate the role of History of Art
(HA) in all this process, using the specific case study of the city of Oporto, World Heritage Site
since 1996.
To reach this goals we proceeded to analyse the existing documentation, both on paper
(bibliographical and archival) and online. The analysis of the Oporto’s Historical Centre
(OHC), World Heritage Site, was also made through field work. This documentation divided,
in official and officious, covers the World Heritage notion, the Application Process of OHC, its
maintenance, and study of the artistic heritage that the city contains.
The data obtained was organized in listings and schemes. The contents of the Application
Process, the subsequent publication by the official entity (CRUARB) and the bibliography
used were also examined. Through the analysis of the Internet official and officious sites, we
found an almost complete absence of references. For both cases, when researchable, the
bibliography reveals major gaps in HA’s studies, and ill cared use of the information provided
by this resources. The status quo was not altered in recent publications. The approach of the
artistic object in the few texts used, that were created within the context of HA, enhances the
value of its patrimonial dimension. The focus given to the artistic object, both building and its
content, is inadequate. Only in recent initiatives by the official entities can one find an
emphasis on artistic heritage (so far only theoretical). Throughout our field trips we were also
able to find gaps in the information resources available in loco and in the valorisation of the
buildings. Above all, there is a lack of understanding of the city as a total work of art.
Conclusion
Judging by the state of OHC, by the official entities’ actions and by the results obtained
through the analysis made, we can conclude that the HA’s potentialities are underused to value
the artistic heritage (urbanism, architecture and artistic object) in our case study. An efficient
valorisation triggers a mechanism that protects the classification obtained. This requires a
profitable use of the heritage and its correct advertising by which we can sustain its
maintenance. According to the principles that were in the basis of the creation of a World
Heritage concept, this mechanism should stress the idea of artistic heritage as an identity
generator and take into account the necessities of a multidisciplinary approach. The
specificities of HA play a major role in the elaboration of a professional and qualified product
to the ever so demanding historical centre’s tourist.
To better express the potentialities of Oporto as a total work of art, we elaborated a small
multimedia project in video format.
72 3 rd meeting of young researchers at UP