What the Heck is a Cryptoportico?

We went up to the top of the hill again to visit another museum. As I mentioned before, Coimbra has very steep, winding, narrow, cobblestone streets that go up to the university area. But the city has helped people who have to do this trek up and down every day. There is an elevator up. There are mini electric buses, called Grandmother’s slippers, that do a circuit every 20 minutes. stairs were added. And the city has replaced some of the very slippery, limestone cobblestone with granite. Even our fabulous ON shoes had trouble gripping the limestone. We cannot imagine how many people would fall, when it rains!

Our destination was to the Museu National Machado de Castro which we heard had a huge collection of very rare and precious objects, as well as great views over the city. We decided that exercise wouldn’t hurt us so we bit the bullet and walked through the old city gate, with holes in the ceiling where oil had been poured on enemies below, and up up, up to the museum.

The museum was housed in what used to be a Bishop’s palace that had been built on the platform of an old Roman Forum. A Forum was the main center of a Roman city. Usually located near the physical center of a Roman town, on a crossroads, it served as a public area in which commercial, religious, economic, political, legal, and social activities occurred.

Under the museum, is a well-preserved cryptoportico that we wanted to see and that’s the reason why we climbed to the top of the hill, again.

A cryptoportico is “a semi-subterranean gallery whose vaulting supports portico structures above ground and which is lit from openings at the tops of its arches”. In Coimbra, the Forum was built over uneven ground so a two storey cryptoportico was built under it. The whole area under the platform had tunnels and small rooms in it. It was used to store grains, food and animals and provide a cool place for people to walk when the weather was extremely hot. The sewers flowed under this structure also. All neat and tidy.

Apparently only a small section on the vaulted ceiling has had any work done in modern times, although some parts were rebuilt in the 14th century. Most of what we saw was how it was 2000 years ago. When we entered the dark interior, we could just wander around the huge basement-like labyrinth. It was like a maze! Finally everyone finds their way out and there was a man who indicated where the exit was. What an incredible place.

I have only mentioned the underground vaults but the whole museum was wonderful and had good English translations. We were there for four hours! They even have a restaurant with great views that overlooks the river and the lower city where we had a small coffee break.

The museum was well worth the €3 that we paid!Read more