Jardim Botânico de Coimbra: contraponto entre a Arte e a ... - artez

versidade e principal executor da reforma,
fazendo-a acompanhar de uma memória
onde se indicava a porção de terreno da
cerca de S. Bento como a mais adequada
para a instituição do «Horto Botânico», opinião
corroborada por Domenico Vandelli,
encarregado da direcção do novel Jardim,
que então se encontrava na corte.
A respeito da referida implantação acrescentava
ainda que “o Abbade do Collegio
de Saõ Bento, e todos os seus Frades;
achando-se possuidos por hum terror
pânico de que lhe hiam tomar parte do seu
Collegio, e toda a sua cerca para se establecer
o referido Horto: E querendo sacrificar
huma parte para salvar o todo: Me viéram
offerecer pelo seu Procurador Geral o Terreno,
(…) o qual V. S.ª com os Professores da
Faculdade pode hir ver; demarcar, e fazer
murar, logo que se recolherem os Doutores
Ciera, e Vandelli”. Rematava apelando
ao uso prudente da referida oferta, a fim de
não se estender para além do indispensável
o Horto que, dizia, em nenhuma parte ter
visto ser “huma Quinta extensa” 3 .
A 3 de Fevereiro de 1773, o reitor-reformador
tranquilizava o ministro, noticiando-o
de que “já se acham n’esta cidade os Doutores
Ciera, Vandelli e Dalabella, e com
elles e Franzini irei ámanhã ver o sítio que
V.ª Ex.ª designou para n’elle estabelecer-se o
Jardim Botanico” 4 . Em resposta, o marquês
de Pombal anunciava a vinda do tenentecoronel
Guilherme Elsden, ensamblador ou
marceneiro londrino, estabelecido em Portugal
pelo menos desde 1763, que executava
serviços de engenharia e arquitectura.
Era este inglês, igualmente responsável por
outros edifícios da reforma pombalina, que
o estadista encarregava de delinear o Jardim
“pelos apontamentos dos professores” 5 . Aos
docentes cabia, na companhia de Francisco
de Lemos, o reconhecimento do local.
Cumprida com brevidade tal inspecção,
verificou-se, porém, não ser o destinado
sítio o mais apropriado, dada a existência
de acentuados desníveis que implicariam
ico Vandelli, who had been appointed curator
of the new garden, and who was at that
time at court.
The letter went on: “The Abbot of the College
of St Bento and all his friars, terrified of
that their college and all its grounds would
be taken over for the establishment of the
Garden, and wanting to sacrifice a part to
save the whole, offered me, through their
legal representative, the terrain (…), which
you and your Faculty professors may view,
demarcate and enclose, as soon as Doctor
Ciera and Doctor Vandelli return”. It concluded
by urging that the offer be used prudently,
not going beyond what was strictly
necessary, for nowhere should the Garden
be perceived as “an extensive estate” 3 .
On 3rd February 1773, the reformer rector
informed the Marquis that “Doctors Ciera,
Vandelli and Dalabella are now in the city,
and they and Franzini shall go tomorrow
to the site that Your Excellency has designated
for the establishment of the Botanical
Garden” 4 . In his reply, the Marquis
announced the arrival of Lieutenant Colonel
William Elsden, a joiner or cabinetmaker
from London, who had been based
in Portugal since at least 1763, and who performed
services in engineering and architecture.
Elsden, who was also responsible
for other buildings of the Pombaline reform,
had been commissioned to demarcate the
Garden “from the professors’ notes” 5 ; the
professors, for their part, were to survey the
site in the company of Francisco de Lemos.
However, following the brief inspection, it
was decided that the site was not really suitable
for the garden since it contained sharp
differences in level, which would require
“great expense in the creation of terraces
one above the other and even so, would
remain uneven”. The College garden, located
in Alegria, near the so-called ‘Ínsua dos
Bentos’, was considered as a second choice,
but was also rejected as not viable “since it
is very cramped, is exposed to flooding of
the Mondego, would also require extensive
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