Jardim Botânico de Coimbra: contraponto entre a Arte e a ... - artez
Jardim Botânico de Coimbra: contraponto entre a Arte e a ... - artez
Jardim Botânico de Coimbra: contraponto entre a Arte e a ... - artez
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Ajuda, jubilando-se em 1811.<br />
Do período das invasões francesas, se a<br />
<strong>de</strong>senhos ou plantas não nos po<strong>de</strong>mos<br />
reportar, temos porém um testemunho<br />
contemporâneo que nos possibilita imaginar<br />
o estado em que se encontrava este<br />
espaço. Laura Junot, duquesa <strong>de</strong> Abrantes e<br />
esposa do embaixador francês em Portugal,<br />
<strong>de</strong>clarava em 1808 que “el Jardín Botánico<br />
<strong>de</strong> <strong>Coimbra</strong> era bastante superior al jardín<br />
<strong>de</strong>l rey en Lisboa. Cada planta tenía tablilla<br />
com su nombre <strong>de</strong> clasificación, como en el<br />
«Jardin <strong>de</strong>s Plantes» <strong>de</strong> Paris, permitiendo<br />
estudiar perfectamente la curiosa y bella<br />
flora <strong>de</strong> Portugal” 15 .<br />
Se do ponto <strong>de</strong> vista botânico se reconheciam<br />
méritos, a parte arquitectónica permanecia<br />
por apurar. A ela se <strong>de</strong>dicariam<br />
os trabalhos, retomados a partir <strong>de</strong> 1814 e<br />
cuja direcção se <strong>entre</strong>gou a António José<br />
das Neves e Mello. Entre 1814 e 1821 realizaram-se<br />
as terraplanagens <strong>entre</strong> a rua central<br />
e a superior e proce<strong>de</strong>u-se à construção<br />
do muro e gradaria exterior, mandandose<br />
vir, para este efeito, ferro <strong>de</strong> Estocolmo.<br />
Em 1822 foi construído o portão do lado do<br />
48<br />
José do Couto dos Santos Leal’s project for<br />
the main gate of the Gar<strong>de</strong>n was approved<br />
in 1818. This is a <strong>de</strong>sign in Chinese ink and<br />
watercolour on paper [9], which is preserved<br />
in the Machado <strong>de</strong> Castro National<br />
Museum. It presents two alternative proposals;<br />
the columns and pillars are on tall<br />
bases and are topped by an entablature finished<br />
off with pronounced volutes, differing<br />
mostly as regards the coping. The one<br />
on the right is completed with an allegorical<br />
figure of Nature; the one on the left, which<br />
was approved and executed, <strong>de</strong>velops more<br />
mo<strong>de</strong>stly, culminating upwards in two urns<br />
and a pinnacle.<br />
The project was certainly executed before<br />
1839, the date of publication of the famous<br />
watercolour of Saint Anne’s Fountain, lithographed<br />
by Louis Hague, which shows the<br />
gateway already built, with only its iron gate<br />
missing. This was placed later, since it has<br />
the date of 1844 on its upper wing and the<br />
name of the locksmith, Manuel Bernar<strong>de</strong>s<br />
Galinha, near the lock.<br />
The gateway near St Sebastian’s aqueduct<br />
was also built in the first <strong>de</strong>ca<strong>de</strong>s of the 19th