Sacred Vaulted South: Proposing GIS-powered vaults cluster analysis and cultural itineraries into religious heritage buildings

Propondo análise de cluster de abóbadas e itinerários culturais em edifícios de património religioso baseado em GIS

Authors

  • Mafalda Pacheco CHAM – Centre for the Humanities, NOVA University of Lisbon – School of Social Sciences and Humanities (NOVA FCSH), Lisbon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1091-6325
  • Ana Paula Falcão Flor CERIS - Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, Instituto Superior Técnico - University of Lisbon (TECNICO ULisboa), Lisbon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3626-7634
  • Rolando Volzone DINÂMIA’CET-Iscte, Department of Architecture and Urbanism (DAU), ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon, Lisbon; IEM-Institute of Medieval Studies, NOVA FCSH, Lisbon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1555-866X

Keywords:

Religious architecture, Vaults and domes, Southern Portugal, GIS itineraries, Vaulted South Platform

Abstract

In the south of Portugal, brick vaults are a particular traditional building system for ceilings, floors and terraces, using local materials and techniques, presently viewed as an example of sustainable construction. It was applied in various building typologies, from dwellings to religious buildings (churches, chapels, monasteries and convents), ranging from erudite to popular contexts.
Vaulted buildings carry material and immaterial values related to traditional craftsmanship, knowledge transmission and religious practices, with heritage value and the potential to be a target of fruition by local people and visitors, playing an important role in the regeneration of the hinterland areas.
This paper aims to present the potential of vernacular vaulted religious buildings to foster a sustainable territorial development empowered using digital tools in cultural tourism, promoting their understanding, dissemination and exploration among academic experts and the general public, as well as to reinforce the need for their further recovery, use and reuse.
This study was conducted under the scope of the research project Vaulted South – Vernacular vaulted houses in south of Portugal, focusing on an inner sub-region of Southern Portugal, Baixo Alentejo, and it is based on the data collected during the census of vaulted buildings settled in the regions of Portel, Moura and Serpa, as pilot case studies. Georeferenced data were handled into a GIS environment for statistical analysis and the development of thematic itineraries. First results promoted a deeper knowledge about vaulted buildings and the creation, transfer and discussion of their potential knowledge and cultural values.

Author Biographies

Mafalda Pacheco, CHAM – Centre for the Humanities, NOVA University of Lisbon – School of Social Sciences and Humanities (NOVA FCSH), Lisbon

Mafalda Pacheco is an architect and a post-doctoral researcher at CHAM-Center for the Humanities, FCSH - NOVA University and Universidade dos Açores. Degree in Architecture (2004), Master in Architecture (2009) and Ph.D in Architecture (2018) by the Instituto Superior Técnico-University of Lisbon, she had a Ph.D scholarship supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (2012-2016). Previously, she had professional experience collaborating in several architectural studios (2002-2010) in Portugal, Spain and Croatia with a scholarship by IAESTE (2004). Since 2019, she is invited lecture and lecturer at Master degrees at the Faculty of Architecture - University of Lisbon (2019-2020) and at FCSH - NOVA University (2019-2022). Since May 2022 she is the Principal investigator of the project “Vaulted South - Vernacular vaulted houses in southern Portugal” funded by FCT (EXPL/ART-DAQ/0171/2021). Recently, she is participating as Post-doc Fellow in two COST Actions: “Decolonising Development: Research, Teaching and Practice” and “Underground4Value”.

Ana Paula Falcão Flor, CERIS - Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, Instituto Superior Técnico - University of Lisbon (TECNICO ULisboa), Lisbon

Ana Paula Falcão is an Assistant Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Universidade de Lisboa (UL) where she has been a member of the academic staff for over eighteen years. She performs work in several domains of geographic information: acquisition, analysis, and visualization, and recently get involved in BIM modeling techniques. In total, she has published 21 ISI papers, 2 international book chapters, and over 30 international conference papers and is a reviewer for several international journals. She has participated in 6 successful research projects (total > €900k) funded by Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), 3 pedagogical projects EU-funded and over 10 consultancy services.

Rolando Volzone, DINÂMIA’CET-Iscte, Department of Architecture and Urbanism (DAU), ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon, Lisbon; IEM-Institute of Medieval Studies, NOVA FCSH, Lisbon

Rolando Volzone is an architect, working on building rehabilitation, and a post-doc researcher at DINÂMIA'CET-Iscte. Since 2022, he is also Assistant Professor and lecturer at Master degrees and PhD programs at ISCTE-IUL. He concluded his PhD in December of 2020, funded by FCT, focused on the cultural heritage of religious orders in the South of Portugal. He is the coordination of the international conferences "Architectures of the Soul", since 2017. In 2020 he joined the national project “CONVEMOS” and the European project "F-ATLAS”, led by the Università degli Studi di Firenze. He is member of ICOMOS Portugal and integrated into two International Scientific Committees, PRERICO and CIPA Heritage Documentation, as well as member of the Scientific Board of the association Future for Religious Heritage (FRH). More recently, he joined two COST Actions “MARGISTAR” and “Underground4Value”). He authored several publications, edited two international books, and he has been reviewer of indexed scientific articles. Moreover, he attended numerous national and international conferences.

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Published

2025-04-10

Issue

2025: Spring Special Issue: Religious Heritage – sites, people, challenges

Section

Article

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