Conservação da madeira em edifícios históricos. O caso das madeiras do Brasil

Maria Francisca de Jesus Casimiro Sales Barreto

Key information

Authors:

Maria Francisca de Jesus Casimiro Sales Barreto (Maria Francisca de Jesus Casimiro Sales Barreto)

Supervisors:

José Maria Da Cunha Rego Lobo de Carvalho (José Maria Da Cunha Rego Lobo de Carvalho); Angela do Valle

Published in

07/05/2017

Abstract

Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries Portugal imported high quality wood from Brazil to fabric dyeing, shipbuilding, civil construction and decorative arts. The “royal woods", for being an exclusive trade to the Portuguese crown, were the most exploited, which resulted in the near extinction of some botanical species. The use of these woods has been an object of academic interest in Brazil, however, the use of Brazilian wood in Portugal has not been much studied. The following dissertation aims to analyze the destination of the woods imported from Brazil, through documentary research in the main national archives and by analysis of historical buildings constructed in the mentioned period. Simultaneously, it seeks to understand the tradicional use of wood in Portugal, and its most used species in order to contextualize the need of brazilian wood importation. The Pombal Palace was selected as a case study in Lisbon for preserving till this day original features, namely exotic woods. It was sought to collect, analyze and identify wood samples from the main building elements, in order to verify the use of Brazilian hardwoods in noble buildings in Portugal. The interest of this research lies in its contribution to the restoration and conservation of wood in historical buildings, in particular, for the preservation of Brazilian historical woods.