Onde está a Mesquita Aljama de Lisboa?

Da construção de um mito urbano aos equívocos da Arqueologia

Abstract

The city of Lisbon, heir to an opulent Islamic past, has insisted on hiding its testimonies of
buildings from that period. Nonetheless, since the 19th century and under the infl uence of
Romanticism and along with the birth of Archaeology as a Science, that from the study of
ancient literary information, the presence of some important constructions and, in particular,
the great aljama or main mosque was given value. Archaeological excavations carried out
in the cloister of the Lisbon Cathedral (Sé de Lisboa), which have been going on for three
decades, claimed to have discovered the remains of that temple, which, well-orchestrated
campaign in the media, made them widely reported. However, not even with some imagination
is it believable that the remains of the structures exposed have belonged to the desired
main mosque, as they do not have constructive or convincing morphological characteristics
capable of supporting such a statement, such as the undeniable remains of the mihrāb, the
qibla or the minaret, tiled or stone fl ooring, bases, shafts or column capitals, fragments of
decorated stucco, inscriptions, etc. Nor were there any artifactual testimonies or stratigraphic
successions identifi ed that contributed to that interpretation.