The cloister of Santa Clara a Velha in Coimbra (14th century) (Portuguese archaeology, architecture)

Portuguese archaeology and medieval art history have been considerably enriched by the discovery of the ruins of the "main" cloister of the Monastery of Santa Clara a Velha in Coimbra, founded at the end of the 13th century and refounded in 1314 by the Queen Saint Isabel of Portugal. Considered for centuries a "lost monument" for which documentation was rare, the cloister of the Claristes of Coimbra began to be rediscovered late in 1995, as a result of a project carried out by the IPPAR (Instituto Portugues de Patrimonio Arquitectonico) aimed at the restoration of the church of this monastery. The monastic constructions had disappears in the silting up of the Mondego River. The only remaining element was the church, half buried in earth, mud and water, after centuries of successive flooding. Uncovering the area around the southern facade led to the discovery of the architectural structures of the cloister in a good state of conservation. This change in the initial project resulted in the decision to excavate the entire surface of the cloister. The archeological campaign was characterized by its somewhat original methodology, only made possible through the permanent pumping of the water. This gradually revealed the architecture of an official cloister with a magnificent lavabo. The most important stage in the history of the construction of the monastery as revealed through this research are currently the object of a project for a virtual model. The very diverse importance of the elements that are being gradually uncovered would appear to be fundamental to the knowledge of the ways of life and the practices of the religious community which lived in this monastery of great charism.