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The Historical Importance and Architectonic Relevance of the “Extinct” Arrábida Breccia

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Abstract

The Arrábida Breccia is a type of chromatic rock with a very unusual texture, appearing only in the current geographical area of the Natural Park of Arrábida, and thus, its extraction is definitively finished. Due to its petrographic nature, it is very sensitive to weathering, particularly to rainwater. It has had numerous uses for at least 2000 years since the occupation of Iberia by the Romans, and which evolved over time from exterior to interior structures. Since the beginning of the Baroque, it is almost exclusively linked to the interior decorative arts, in polished finishing. Its use had a greater expression linked to the Gothic-Manueline style, closely associated with the epic Portuguese, roughly in the transition in fifteenth to sixteenth centuries particularly during the reign of King Manuel I who would have particular preference for this rock. Its use is characterised by being quite confined, especially as the resource has always been relatively scarce regarding known deposits. Although most of the known applications are located in Portugal, especially in the regions of Setúbal and Lisbon, there are also examples of its application in other countries, namely in the Mediterranean Europe and Brazil, largely in buildings classified as of National Interest and in building classified as World Heritage or Architectural Heritage (UNESCO). Due to the above facts, the need to preserve some extracted but not used blocks is also discussed in this work both for the purposes of preservation and restoration of monuments as well as the valuation of the old mines for educational and recreational purposes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all those who have supported us permanently during the work leading to this result. In the first place to two great women, Graça and Leonor, then to our friend Jorge Hall for his very careful and critical reading of the text and the revision of English. We wish to formally thank the following personalities and entities for their great openness that allowed us to obtain images, photography and video, including by drone, without which the work would lose a good part of its value. Namely (1) to the French Embassy in Portugal, in the person of the Ambassador Jean-Michel Casa, regarding the Palace of Santos (Lisbon); (2) to the High Reverend Bishop of Setúbal D. José Ornelas Carvalho and the Vicar General of the Diocese, as well as the Setúbal Municipality, through the Culture Sector and the Museum of Setúbal, regarding the Convent of Jesus (church and cloisters) as well as to Cristina Coelho in the quality of Environment Advisor in the Environment Sector; (3) the Administration of the Sintra’s Montes da Lua Parks and the curators and senior technicians who accompanied us in the palaces of Pena and Queluz; (4) to Madam Director of the Department of Nature Conservation and Forests of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo and Director of the Natural Park of Arrábida, Maria de Jesus Fernandes, and the senior technicians Ana Sofia Palma and César Monteiro, regarding the authorisation to overfly the area of Jasper Quarry and field monitoring; and (5) our colleague Antônio Gilberto Costa from the Minas Gerais Federal University (Brazil) for sending us photographs from applications of the Arrábida Breccia in Brazil. We want to acknowledge our colleague Manuel Gonçalves da Silva for his very careful reading and comments to the English phrasing and also to the reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.

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  1. GeoBioTec and Department of Earth Sciences, Uni. NOVA Lisboa, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal

    José Carlos Kullberg

  2. Escola Secundária Fernão Mendes Pinto, 2804-527, Almada, Portugal

    António Prego

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  1. José Carlos Kullberg
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Correspondence to José Carlos Kullberg.

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Kullberg, J.C., Prego, A. The Historical Importance and Architectonic Relevance of the “Extinct” Arrábida Breccia. Geoheritage 11, 87–111 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-017-0272-x

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