The restoration of Lisbon’s Patriarchal Cathedral combines work on both cloisters with an archaeological center that preserves and interprets remains found beneath the garden. Its key move is to restore the garden’s historic level as a protective terrace while making the archaeology visible below; a new stair and elevator connect that space to a museum core in the cathedral’s damaged south wing.
How archaeology changed the restoration
A partial subsidence in the cloister garden in 1990 led to excavations that revealed successive layers of occupation, from the Iron Age and Roman and Muslim periods through the medieval city and construction of the cloister in the late 13th or early 14th century. The University of Porto’s Faculty of Architecture likewise describes the finds as a sequence extending from the Iron Age to the medieval period. (ArchDaily project description; Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto)
Those discoveries altered the project’s direction. On 14 October 2020, the Portuguese Government reported that the Ministry of Culture, in dialogue with the Patriarchate of Lisbon, had decided that the structures should be conserved, musealized and integrated into the restoration and interpretation project. The ministry also directed that the museum proposal be adapted to safeguard and value the remains in situ. (Government of Portugal, 14 October 2020)
A terrace above, archaeological remains below
The design restores the garden’s original level as a protective terrace. Rather than treating the excavated remains as a separate problem to be covered or removed, the intervention organizes the cloister around their preservation below the restored landscape. A lantern with a water basin sits away from the terrace’s geometric center and directs light down into the archaeological space.
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The architects describe the water and light as a metaphor for life in contrast with the cloister’s original funerary function. That is the design team’s interpretation, not a statement of the historical meaning of the feature. (Architects’ project description)
A museum core in the damaged south wing
The interpretive and museum space occupies the south wing, the part described by the project team as most damaged by the fire following the 1755 earthquake and never rebuilt. This places the new program in an area already marked by loss, while the cloister garden above remains a protective layer over the archaeological remains. (Architects’ project description; Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto)
New circulation is visible in the historic fabric
A staircase and elevator connect the levels. The architects characterize this access system as a visible contemporary intervention rather than an attempt to make new circulation appear historic. It is central to the project’s spatial sequence: visitors can move between the terrace, the cloister and the archaeological and interpretive areas below. The sources describe the design, but do not establish current public access or visitor arrangements.
At the southeast corner, the project description identifies a compact elliptical, temple-like form on a glass base, clad in handcrafted mirrored tiles that reflect the surrounding landscape. The available description does not establish a specific function for this feature, so it is best understood as a described architectural element rather than assigned a use. (Architects’ project description)
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Project team and scope
Adalberto Dias Arquitecto lda authored the intervention, titled in Portuguese “Recuperação e Valorização da Sé Patriarcal de Lisboa, Instalação do Núcleo Arqueológico e Recuperação dos Claustros Superior e Inferior.” ArchDaily lists a project area of 6,690 m² and the project year as 2025; that year is the listed project year, not a verified construction start or completion date.
| Role | Credited team |
|---|---|
| Architect in charge | Adalberto Dias |
| Engineering | Aníbal Costa |
| Collaborators | Arménio Teixeira, Nuno Rocha and Adalberto Silva Dias |
| Clients | Cabido da Sé Patriarcal de Lisboa and Património Cultural |
| Landscape architecture | NPK |
| Consultants | Gepectrofa, Niluft and Gpic |
| Project photography | Fernando Guerra | FG+SG |
The architects’ description frames the cathedral as a building that has accumulated Romanesque, Gothic, Mannerist, Baroque, Neo-Romanesque, Neo-Gothic and Neo-Manueline layers. It names earthquakes in 1321, 1531 and 1755 as events that damaged the cathedral and cloister and prompted repeated rebuilding. These dates and stylistic characterizations are the project team’s historical framing. (Architects’ project description)
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Recognition
On 20 November 2025, the University of Porto’s Faculty of Architecture reported that the project received a Global Architecture Awards distinction in the Architecture – Historical and Heritage category. The faculty said that 68 projects across geographies were distinguished in the 2025 edition. Separately, the project appears on the shortlist document for the Premio Internazionale Domus Restauro e Conservazione 2025/2026; the document supports shortlist status, not a claim that the project won. (Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto; Premio Internazionale Domus Restauro e Conservazione shortlist)
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