The enlightened barbarian

Alexandre Herculano’s ruins and heritage

Abstract

In the mid-19th century, speeches defending historical heritage became more relevant to intellectuals who realized that many important constructions for the national memory´s configuration were in ruins. Alexandre Herculano (1810-1877) can be read as one of the pioneers in the debates about the value of heritage and the possible intervention policies in a building or construction. In view of European urban developments and conceptions of historical heritage, we propose a case study of the Portuguese based on the analysis of Alexandre Herculano’s Monumentos Pátrios, published in Panorama in 1838. We aim to understand the formation of debates about historical heritage that took place in Portugal, also considering the theories structured by several other scholars who wrote in similar periods and, somehow, reflected on these architectural ruins.