city and spectacle: a vision of pre-earthquake lisbon (presentation for vsmm 2009)

City and Spectacle:A Vision of Pre-

Earthquake Lisbon15th International Conference on Virtual

Systems and MultimediaVSMM 2009

Vienna, Austriahttp://www.vsmm2009.org/

This film shows the current stage of the project, which consists on the recreation of the royal palace ensemble – Palace, Gardens, Opera House, Clock Tower, inward patios and the Patriarchal Piazza. The first draft of this recreation was presented at the VAST 2008 — 9th International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage – Workshop Serious Games on Cultural Heritage, Braga, December 2 to 6, 2008.

City and Spectacle: a vision of pre-earthquake Lisbon

(Second Life recreation of the Lisbon city centre destroyed by the 1755 earthquake)

Lisbon before and during the 1755 earthquake - 18th century. Engraving. Museu da Cidade (City Museum), Lisbon.

The 1755 earthquake

“On Saturday the 1st instant, about half an hour past 9 o’ clock, I was retired to my room after breakfast, when I perceived the house begin to shake … as I saw the neighbours about me all running down stairs, I also made the best of my way… It was darker than the darkest night I ever saw … occasioned by the clouds of dust from the falling of houses on all sides. After it cleared up, I ran into a large square adjoining [the Terreiro do Paço], the palace to the west, the street I lived in to the north, the river to the south, and the custom house and warehouses to the east …but being alarmed with a cry that the sea was coming in, all people crowded forward to run to the hills, I among the rest, with Mr. Wood and family. We went near two miles through the streets, climbing over ruins of churches, houses, &c., stepping over hundreds of dead and dying people, killed by the falling of buildings; carriages, chaises and mules, lying all crushed to pieces …” (Letter of a British Merchant to his Brother - The Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. 25, December 1755).

The 1755 earthquake

A major earthquake shook Lisbon in the morning of the 1st November 1755. Three different shocks reduced most of the city to ruins. A great number of people were gathered in Lisbon’s numerous churches celebrating All Saints’ Day. The vast number of candles burning at the time in churches and house chapels were the main cause of the raging fire that followed the earthquake.

The 1755 earthquake

Rescue of a little girl from Lisbon’s ruins – 18th century (2nd half). Ex-voto to N.S. da Estrela (Our Lady of Estrela). Oil on canvas.

Museu da Cidade (Lisbon City Museum).

Lisbon burnt for a whole week. In Lisbon alone approximately 40,000 people died. Roughly 10% of the buildings were ruined and two thirds suffered such destruction that they were unsafe for habitation. An important number of the city historical records, libraries, art and science collections disappeared under the wreckage and were burnt by the fire. The earthquake was also felt in other areas of Portugal and Spain, particularly in the South, and in the North of Africa.

Lisbon – 17th century (1st half). Arrival of Philip III of Spain in Lisbon the 26 June 1619. Engraving by Hans Schorken from the drawing by

Domingos Vieira Serrão in Lavanha, João Baptista – Viaje de la Catholica (…) D. Filipe III, Madrid, 1622. Museu da Cidade (Lisbon City

Museum).

The Terreiro do Paço (Palace Courtyard) was completely destroyed vanishing in the flames of the Royal Palace and all of the other important adjacent buildings: the New Cathedral (Patriarcal), the Opera House, the Custom House, the City Hall and the Tribunal.

The Quay (Cais das Pedras) near the Royal Palace was engulfed by the tidal waves, killing approximately a hundred people who were seeking refuge from the fire.

The Ruins of the New Patriarchal - 18th century (2nd half). A Flemish version of the illustrations by Paris and Pedegache, engraved by

Jacques Philippe Le Bas. Museu da Cidade (Lisbon City Museum).

The destruction of the Portuguese capital city made the European press headlines at the time, not only for its financial repercussions, but also for the magnitude of the catastrophe. 

This occurrence inspired several texts throughout Europe, namely Voltaire’s Candide, ou l’Optimisme (1759), having a significant impact on European thought.

The Lost City

The Lost City

Lisbon — Early 18th century. English Engraving.

“It is almost impossible to conceive any thing more magnificent than the appearance this stately city made at a distance; owing, as we have said before, as well to its situation on the declivity of several hills, as to the many grand edifices with which it abounded. The interior part, however, did by no means correspond with its external magnificence. The houses of Lisbon were mostly four, few of them five stories high, and built of stone. The narrowness, declivity, and irregularity of some of its streets, and the dirtiness of others, made it a very disagreeable place of abode to strangers”. (A Scottish account of Lisbon in 1745; published in the Scots Magazine, November 1755).

The Lost City

Lisbon developed as an amphitheatre erected along the river Tagus (Tejo), establishing itself on several hills. From the Castle hill, the city expanded to the east, but principally to the west.

During the second half of the fifteenth century, when the expeditions overseas began to be the main enterprise of the Portuguese Crown, this union between the river/sea and the city was reinforced.

The Lost City

Lisbon - 16th century (2nd half). From the engraving by Georgius Braunius “Civitates Orbis Terrarum” (1572).

Museu da Cidade (Lisbon City Museum).

After the success of the sea expedition to India in 1498, the Portuguese king, D. Manuel I (1495 – 1521, born 1469) decided to build a new palace near the river. The vast field just opposite the royal palace was also rearranged in order to receive a number of public buildings: the Shambles; the Crops warehouse, a number of shops and the Customs House. From this period up to 1755, Lisbon’s city centre developed between two main squares, the Terreiro do Paço and the Rossio, to the North.

Lisbon (Rossio square) - 16th century (1st half). Miniature in Holanda, António and Bening, Simão - A Genealogia do

Infante D. Fernando de Portugal, f. VIII (detail). London, British Library.

Lisbon became a major attraction to the countryside population as well as to foreign merchants.

From the 16th century, several foreign tradesmen established themselves in the city, the British forming the most numerous colony.

Lisbon expanded very quickly. At the beginning of the 17th century, the Portuguese capital city was in the group of the most populated European cities, with more than 100,000 inhabitants.

Terreiro do Paço (Palace Courtyard) – 17th century (2nd half). Dirk Stoop. 1662. Oil on canvas. Museu da

Cidade (Lisbon City Museum).

At the eve of the great earthquake of the 1st November 1755, Lisbon was thus a cosmopolitan city, a major European commercial centre and the political heart of an empire extending from India to Brazil.

Pictured by foreign residents as a mixture of abject misery, extreme religious devotion and baroque opulence and extravagance, the old Lisbon became a mythical city for 18th century Europeans and for the Portuguese up until today.

Terreiro do Paço (Palace Courtyard) - Lisbon c. 1754. Francisco Zuzarte (attribution). China ink and watercolour

on paper. Museu da Cidade (Lisbon City Museum).

History has argued that the old medieval city was being modernized by the Crown (King D. João V – 1707-1750; b. 1689) and the City Council within an ancient-regime context, with the providential help of Brazil’s gold and diamonds. Quays were built, streets opened and enlarged, an aqueduct was built bringing water to the city, and a number of royal palaces and churches were erected according to the roman baroque taste. The royal palace suffered important refurbishment works and in April 1755, King D. José (1750 – 1777, b. 1714), gave an Opera House to the city.

Plan for the rebuilding of Lisbon (1756). Architect: Eugénio dos Santos e Carvalho. Plan amended by Eugénio dos Santos and Carlos Mardel (later version). Instituto

Geográfico Português (Portuguese Geographic Institute), Lisbon.

After the earthquake, the minister of King D. José, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo (1699-1782), future Marquis of Pombal, built an enlightened regular city with the fundamental assistance of the Portuguese military engineers. The old city centre with its particular physical and social character disappeared.

Title Text

The project

Royal Palace – Terreiro do Paço (Palace Courtyard) – c. 1755

This project aims to recreate virtually the Lisbon ruined by the 1755 earthquake using as tools a comprehensive study of urban phenomena from a historical and sociological perspective and Second Life Technology;Both the architectural scenario and the sounds of the urban daily life will be recreated;Some of the opera music performed in the old Opera House will be also included;

The Project

Short texts will provide the required historical context;This is an interactive project, which will allow the virtual immersion in the recreated city;As a work in progress, it can be visited at http://lisbon-pre-1755-earthquake.org/ This platform will also allow to host and link other similar projects on Lisbon, optimizing scientific research on this field and giving to it a widespread visibility;

Conceptually, this is a project that combines interpretation, in its historical sense, with "state of the art" technology in order to allow a visualization of a memory. Materially, it can represent a significant scientific, educational and recreational instrument;The team brings together researchers in the area of Art History, specializing in the history of the city, urbanism, architecture and the landscape; specialists in the creation of virtual realities and experts in the application of IT resources to research and the dissemination of history.

The Technology

“[...] the use of 3D computer models of ancient buildings and artefacts” (Reilly, P. (1990). Towards a virtual archaeology.)“Especially interesting are the design of interactive systems, where users can become immersed into a virtual world.” (Barceló, Forte & Sanders. (2000). The Diversity of Archaeological Virtual Worlds.)Second Life is being currently used for several large-scale virtual archeology projects due to its widespread use and employment by universities and the relative low cost of modelling and 3D content hosting (ex. Theatron 3 Project by KVL)

“Virtual archeology”

3D virtual world available to the public; currently with 16 million registered usersTens of thousands users can be online simultaneously (each with their own avatar)Free access (though 3D content hosting has a cost)Persistent content (client-server architecture)Collaborative environmentFree open source 3D viewer includes modelling tools (textures have to be uploaded)

Second Life® - Technology

No external tools required (except for textures) — 3D models and programming is done using the free Second Life viewerInteractive — changes happen immediately, in real time, and all users see them at the same timeCollaborative — several users can build models together simultaneously

Modelling in Second Life

The following series of images show some of the potentialities of the Second Life modelling interface.

The actual images are from an earlier stage of the project.

The Modelling Interface

Building tool showing texture selection

Users build together interacting with avatars

Building tool showing grid alignments, naming

Individual items can be linked (grouped) together

Building tool showing precise measurements

Colour and face properties are being set

Texture upload and selection

Most research projects requiring immersion in a 3D environment tend to prefer relatively obscure, specialised 3D tools/engines, some of which have a long tradition of use in academic institutionsThese require the intended audience to become familiar with them — a special download, and additional training, just for the purpose of accessing one specific projectThus, mainstream use of those immersive environments is often never reachedSince few people actually use them, these tools tend to quickly become obsolete for lack of interest

Why Second Life?

Other tools also require expert use of them to be allowed to contribute content and/or programmingThey might require special hardware to runSimultaneous, collaborative use is possible only inside the rigourous conditions of the lab; mainstream Internet usage is never (or rarely) foreseen, and, if at all, it is limitedIn short, these tools are useful for providing proofs-of-concept or prototypes for experts, but rarely, if ever, good enough for a real audience of mainstream users

By contrast, Second Life is a mainstream product, accessible to users of all ages (from 18 to over 80!), with normal computersNavigation is moderately simple; but users can very easily collaborate in the virtual environment without requiring neither much knowledge, nor trainingContent creation and even programming are accessible to non-professionals with reasonable results, without external toolsVideos can be extracted from Second Life (machinima) without requiring long rendering sessions but just editing with popular home applications (e.g. iMovie)

Second Life is a commercial product run by Linden Lab; hosting 3D content has a monthly costFor a long-term project that requires several years of development, if the area to be recreated is very vast, there is a running cost which can be quite high during the development stageWithout adequate long-term funding, the best option is to do the development using OpenSimulator (which is free, open source, and fully compatible with Second Life) and copy the content over at the end

Second Life and OpenSimulator

Phases

Given the project’s dimension, it is being carried out in several phases. The first modelled building was the Opera House. The second stage included the west side of the Royal Courthouse, the Royal Palace and its gardens, and Rua da Capela.The current stage has introduced the Patriarcal and its plaza, corrected most of the buildings in Rua da Capela as well as the Opera House’s façade, redesigned the palace gardens, and remodelled the Clock Tower.

Progress

A brief chronology:

Built at the beginning of the 16th century, by King D. Manuel I;Suffered major works at the beginning of the 17th century, after the union between the Crowns of Spain and Portugal (1580). King Phillip II of Spain (I of Portugal), b. 1527 – d. 1598, replaced the old fortification, by an imposing tower (1584), and refurbished the Queen’s apartments and the Royal Chapel.

The Royal Palace

The Royal Tower (known as Terzi Tower, from the Italian architect Filippo Terzi; although its plan was probably the work of the Spanish architect Juan Herrera) represented, thereafter, a symbol of the royal palace in Terreiro do Paço. From the old palace, survived the north end of the ensemble.Some refurbishment works by king D. João IV (b. 1604 – d. 1656);

The Joanine project (King D. João V – 1707-1750):

Refurbishment of the Queen’s apartments and the building of the New Clock Tower, by the Italian architect Antonio Canevari (1681-1751). Works between 1707 and 1728;

Renovation and extension of the Royal Chapel, which became the new Patriarchal, by Johann Friedrich Ludwig (1670 - 1752). Works between 1716 and 1746;The building of the Patriarchal Piazza. Works between 1740-1746;Refurbishment of the Princesses’ apartments (the King’s grand-daughters), completed in 1749, probably by Johann Friedrich Ludwig.

Located near Lisbon's main square, the Terreiro do Paço (Palace Courtyard), the Opera House, designed by the Italian architect Giovanni Carlo Bibiena (1717-1760), opened to the public in April 1755 only to be destroyed by the earthquake 7 months later For its architectural character and short lived existence, somehow epitomises the baroque transformation of Lisbon's city centre

The Opera House

Unfortunately, there are few sources of information for the study of this building. Only part of the plans and one of the elevations survived. Therefore, it was used as working material Bibiena’s plans for other European opera houses.The stage designs are the actual ones made by Bibiena for the Lisbon Opera House.

The Ruins of Opera House (18th century). An English version of the illustrations by Paris and Pedegache, engraved by

Jacques Philippe Le Bas.

The foyer had impressive elements, with two entries, one towards the river (facing the south), and one to the north, where today runs the Arsenal Street.

Opera House Foyer

Foyer

Foyer

Foyer with stairway to the main room

The main room was not very large, although it was quite high. Descriptions at the time tell us that the decoration — marbles, giltwork, and exotic woods — were so luxurious that the audience, during the performance, was often distracted by them.

Opera House Main Room

Main room — view of the stage

Main room — view of the boxes

View of the ceiling

View from above

The stage, of huge proportions, was larger than the main room, allowing exuberant productions that even included cavalry companiesWe present the scenario designed by G. Bibiena for the première of the opera Allessandro nell’India by David Perez

Opera House Stage

View of the stage

Detail of the stage

Our proposal is an adaptation (since the buildings are so different) of the designs by Bibiena for the theatres of Nancy and Vienna, namely with regard to the north and main entrances.

Opera House Exteriors

The Opera House, north façade

The Opera House, north façade detail

The Opera House, south façade

The Opera House, portico on south façade

Video from Second Life

We present a small, amateur-quality video showing the feeling to be immersed in the Lisbon of

1755

Scientific coordinationAlexandra Gago da CâmaraAntónio Filipe PimentelHelena MurteiraPaulo RodriguesTechnical coordination & productionBeta TechnologiesConsultant (audio sources)Octávio dos Santos

Credits

SponsorCHAIA (Centro de História de Arte e Investigação Artística – Artistic Research and History of Art Centre) – University of Évora PartnerKing’s Visualisation Lab – Kings CollegeMusicMúsica para D. João VI e D. CarlotaMário Marques Trilha & Isabel AlcobiaNumérica ProduçõesAllesandro Nell’IndieCarlos PerezCourtesy of Antena 2/RTP

Credits