Conimbriga - Ruínas, Museu monográfico

	Forum Description of the elements of the project » Excavation: Luso-French mission, 1965-1968. Available documentation: Plane stone-to-stone (1/50, published for 1/100, architecture at several scales) of the Luso - French excavations (Fouilles I**, est. III). Brief description: Public monument of great dimensions whose architecture was reconstructed; it includes two different phases; the first one can not be reconstructed with certainly. Bibliography of the excavation: Fouilles I, passim. Another abundant bibliography. http://lsm.dei.uc.pt/forum/

	The forum of the Roman city of Conimbriga was located during the archaeological excavations that took place between 1964 and 1971, excavations that were carried out by the Luso-French team that involved the Museu Monográfico de Conimbriga, the Institute of Archaeology of the Faculdade de Letras of the University of Coimbra and the University of Bordeus. The excavations identified the structures of a great monument of the flavian era and, under these, the remains of constructions belonging to a previous phase that although, coinciding in the location of some elements ( the central square, for example), composed a completely different architectonic program. The survival of the structures of the forum, affected by severe problems through: in first place, the abandon to which the Roman pagan constructions voted with were the coming of the Christianity; the ruin of the forum, led to the use of the place as cemetery,some centuries later which contributed partially to the degradation of the remains partially buried; later, after the severe destructions already provoked by the agricultural labours, the forum seems to have been a privileged local for retrieving construction materials for the modern and contemporary habitations, phenomenon remarkably intensified after of the fire the neighbouring village of Condeixa-a-Nova by the troops of the French general Massena (1805). What is known today about the forum of Conimbriga is, the result of a diligent analysis of the recovered plan of the buildings, of the remains, only few in many cases, of the constructive and ornamental aspect, and of important studies and restitutions of its original aspect, fruit of the theoretical reconstruction of the architectonical module used and the comparison with other similar monuments, spread through the orb of the old Roman Empire. The forum of Conimbriga is located in the centre of the urban area of the town, which also corresponds roughly with a more elevated spot in the plateau that the town occupied from its origin. The location of the flavian forum was conditioned by the pre-existence of the forum built in the first half of the I st century, which also occupied a central area from the point of view of the axes of circulation of the oppidum. The flavian forum was drawn as a rectangular block defined by a straight wall without openings, except the monumental entrance; defined by four streets, it presence was, without doubt, a vigorous mark in the urban structure of the town. In the surrounding streets of the forum, passed all the significant axes of the city, the entrances for the residential zones, and the circulation among the main monuments (besides the Forum, the Amphitheatre and the great Baths). This situation took that were built small squares, where they met public fountains, latrines, etc, round the forum. In the entrance area, to the South, the main street of the city enlarged itself to a square, marked by the presence of the four fronted arch that constituted the door of the forum and the access to the lateral small temples. The intention of the flavian architect that translated the imperial commission and the desires of the city notables was build a sanctuary to frame the temple dedicated to the cult of deified emperors' and its family. The existence of a previous forum, around a a central piazza where some monuments dedicated to the most important persons of the city,already existed dictated the conservation of that element. However, the remaining constructions (and its purposes) were moved for what we imagine has been another forum, of strictly municipal use, whose location in the city can be object of conjecture but is not certain. The essential element of the forum was, therefore, the temple and the front square, rounded by porticoes. These, besides sheltering the visitors of the inclemency of the climate, also had the mission of giving to elements the framing that the architects of the period designated scenography, something that for Vitruvio was obtained by meditation - the effort done by the spirit to obtain the pleasure to be successful in the research of some thing - and the invention - that is, the effort of the same spirit to give a new explanation to obscure subjects. The product of this intellectual enterprise in Conimbriga was the reduction of the whole architectonical program of the forum to a geometric development, based on pitagoric triangles, starting from a module of ten Roman feet, equivalent to 2,96 m. The forum measures 15,5 length modules for 8 of wide. Of the length, 7 modules are reserved to the zone of the temple, the square occupies the rest. The temple would have an height equivalent to three modules: on a width of eight modules, the central zone of the front elevation of the forum was drawn on two rectangle triangles corresponding to the pitagoric proportion of 3/4/5. This simple outline allowed the drawing of all the main constructive lines, what should have contributed to the plastic effect produced on whom entered the sanctuary.