Fort of Santa Luzia
INNOVATIVE AND CONTROVERSIAL CONSTRUCTION In 1641, after the Restoration, the veteran Mathias de Albuquerque opened various "mines" to build a redoubt – "capable of holding three hundred soldiers" – which would have a "star-shaped form", following a plan by Sebastião Frias. Even though it was not yet completed, it was considered ineffective because it was too small to hit areas of lower elevation around the vantage point overlooking it. It was then that the Italian Ieronymo Roxeti was put in charge of building a "forte real", that is, a fort of greater dimensions (a defensive line with the Main gate effective range of the musket shot: c. 220 m) which began on 1 March 1642. The chief engineer of the kingdom, Charles Lassart, visited the site and disagreed with the project because he considered it irregular and the geometry inadequate. Cosmander, João Ballesteros, Lassart and Roxeti formed a commission appointed by the king but no start was made on the fortification due to disagreement among the engineers. Finally, in 1643, Cosmander and Jean Gilot were granted decision-making power over the project, and they opted for an "outer fortification", which was smaller than the intended "forte real". Construction was completed in 1648, with a geometry of innovative fronts that anticipates the Pagan system (1645) and the Vauban citadels of Arras and Lille (begun in 1668).
The two facilities at the W point of this ditch served as the powder-magazine and the munitions store, and the warehouse that is adjacent to them, in the ditch, served as a store for artillery equipment, as well as a powder-magazine. In the W ditch stood two stables with stalls – the Central Division and the top N - and probably more barracks with fireplaces (now the military museum). The door to the main redoubt is at the level of the covered way, to the N, with access to the open courtyard. Visible to the E are two barracks for officials (one now used as toilets), the stairs to the roof and latrines. To the S is the nave of the pre-existing chapel of Santa Luzia –incorporated into the fort – with access to the warehouse/powder-magazine, situated at a lower level. To the W is what is believed to have served as a guard-house for soldiers and as a kitchen. Beyond these stairs and visible from the roof are the openings of cisterns to the E and W , to the S the openings to the warehouse/powder-magazine, and to the W the kitchen chimney and a tank for washing, and the gutters that divert rainwater to the cisterns. The governor's house was built on the rooftop, with a fireplace, and a curious staircase giving access to the terrace which is an excellent observation point.
The oldest plan from Nicolau de Langres's book (c. 1661) Comparison with the Pagan system
The mantraps, the circular trench walls, the galleries, the barbettes, the traverses, and the barracks of the S ditch were built between the end of the 18th century and 1814.
DESCRIPTION The main body of the fort is part of an irregular polygon of 161 m x 144 m, having four angled bulwarks: Santa Isabel (NE), Santo António (SE), São Pedro (SW) and Conceição (NW). The main door is situated in the curtain of the N front (with the old drawbridge mechanism superimposed) and a postern gate in the opposite curtain. Surrounded by a ditch with ravelins to the S and E, the counterscarp gives access to the covered way in a tenailled trace. The salient angles of the S and E parts are equipped with firing platforms for artillery to fire over the parapet (barbettes). On the other hand, the reMain redoubt ditch entrant angles in the S and E sectors present sloped "drums", that is, circular trench walls, and in the W and NW sectors there are angular trenches. This system is defended by rows of pits or mantraps, except for the N part which is connected to the city by a covered way and the entrance into the fort. Countermine galleries on the S front should also be noted. Returning to the main body of the fort, it has a second ditch which isolates the main redoubt, in a rectangular plan. In this ditch, with an entrance to galleries to the E, the earthwork is abutted by three sets of facilities: to the E, the old oven (now the reception), followed by former barracks – the central division served as the guard-house – with fireplaces and wall cupboards. To the S are the vaulted barracks (now the military museum), with chimneys and cabinets. In the middle, there is a door which gives access to the tunnel of the postern gate.
Drawbridge mechanism
Plan (1700-1A-13A-1B, n.d.,18th centurie, DSE)
SPAIN
N B
T
T
B T
B
B Governor's house
R
Church of Santa Luzia
IRREGULARITIES, ASYMMETRY AND THEIR INTERPRETATION
B
R B t t
t
t t T
T
a) All parapets facing the city were weakened: they are not very thick and do not have embrasures (including the central redoubt). Rationale: if the fort was taken by the enemy, the fire from the city would destroy these parapets, preventing enemy artillery from defending themselves with merlons.
T
B
b) Only the E and S fronts have ravelins to defend their corresponding curtains. Rationale: only through these sectors could there be an enemy attack, the other fronts have the city to the N, and the Fortlet of São Pedro to the W. c) Only the N front does not feature the aforementioned extramural trenches. There is only one trench of small dimensions that defends the connection to the fort from the covered way leading from the city.
C
ELVAS Asymmetric layout of the main redoubt Weakened parapets without embrasures
B
Barbettes Capital lines
FORTLET OF SÃO PEDRO
t T R C
Traverses Circular and angular trenches Ravelins Reinforced base of the scarp Covered way to the city
Mantraps
Artillery piece
Fort of Santa Luzia
Traverses
Fort of Santa Luzia (aerial view)
Rationale: it was not expected that enemy infantry assaults would be launched between the crossfire from the city and the fort; on the other hand, if there were any, they would hinder the entry of reinforcements. d) The main redoubt is off centre, having been built more to the N. Rationale: with this location, it strategically provided plenty of space in the terrapleins of the S front, this being the sector where the enemy was expected to attack. Note that traverses were built only here, some with embrasures to defend against possible breaches.
Military Museum
Courtyard of the main redoubt
Rationale: this redoubt acts as a cavalier of the S front, not forgetting the capital lines of the bulwarks, that is, in the direction from which the enemy approaches. Fire from these bulwarks would be directed over the parapet, over the aforementioned lines, on platforms existing only at the bulwarks of this front and at the salient angles of the covered way of the S and SE fronts. In conclusion, the fort sacrificed a possible geometric regularity that would have been merely rhetorical, in order to maximize its military effectiveness within the defensive system to which it belongs.
GOVERNMENT, GARRISON, WEAPONS AND WARTIME EVENTS After its construction, the fort had an autonomous government. On 2 April 1649, the "honour" was bestowed on Sergeant Major João de Amorim. At the beginning of the 19th century, as early as 1805, it came to be considered a simple battery of the garrison; for this reason, the governorship of the fort was discontinued. After several sporadic appointments – particularly during the Napoleonic Wars (1807-1811) and because of the revolution and civil war of Maria da Fonte and Patuleia (1846-1847) – the last governor who remained there until his death was Lieutenant Santana e Silva (1945). In 1663, the fort had two 24-calibre demi-cannon, two 16-calibre third-cannon, three 9-calibre Swedish cannon, one 10-calibre quarter-cannon and one 7calibre saker cannon. About two centuries later, in 1874, the defensive weapons consisted of 8 shell-firing cannon, 4 groove-barrelled 12-calibre guns and 25 smooth-barrelled guns: four 11-calibre, seven 10-calibre, eight 9-calibre and six 7-calibre. That same year, the garrison when on a war footing housed 370 infantrymen, 166 artillery, 52 miners and 20 warehouse attendants and guards, totalling 608 men. Main events in wartime: - War of Restoration (1641-1668): resistance to the siege of 1644 (Marquis of Torrecusa), defeating, with their artillery, the enemy redoubt of the hill of Casarão; resistance to the siege of the Battle of the Lines of Elvas (1648/9) defeating, with their artillery, the Barracks of the Court of D. Luis de Haro, south of the fort. - War of the Spanish Succession (1703-12): resistance to the two sieges (1706 and 1711, the Marquis of Bay), defeating, with their artillery, the trebuchets that the Spaniards placed in the path leading to the "Poço das Escadas". - Napoleonic Wars (1807-11): occupation by Spanish troops (1807), later replaced by French troops (1808), due to breach of the alliance, and finally by British troops that forced the French to withdraw according to the terms of the Convention of Sintra (1808).
Timetable (1 April to 30 September) OPENING HOURS: Tuesday from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. CLOSED Monday all day and Tuesday morning (1 May, Easter Sunday, 25 December, 1 January).
(1 October to 31 March) OPENING HOURS: Tuesday from 2:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 2:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. CLOSED Monday all day and Tuesday morning Tickets Adults: 2€ Pensioners: 1 € Children until 12 years of age: free Available services Guided visits for adults (Portuguese and Spanish) Contacts Tel: 268 628 357
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Text and concept: Domingos Bucho Photography and design: Raul Ladeira (VA) Current plan: João Nunes Translation: Connie Botelho-Cabral
e) The main redoubt favoured the S front with 4 embrasures, 2 being angled, directed to the capital lines of the bulwarks.
Elvas The Garrison Border Town of
and its Fortifications