Water as a vestige in Braga's recognition as a palimpsest

Elsa Lisboa

This research seeks to implement the reading in thickness in order to support the interpretation of the contemporary territory of Braga. A recognition process is applied which gives an additional practical dimension to the reading of the territory as palimpsest, where it begins by scraping to recognize. The definition of palimpsest becomes an important tool for the integration of the analysis elements in the recognition process of the territory. The palimpsest is seen as process, water as vestige, Braga as papyrus and Sete Fontes as text.
The vestige is closely connected to human history and secular qualities of the territory. The papyrus contains a patrimony deeply connected to water resources that evokes the use of water over time. The text constitutes the guiding thread that interconnects the different layers of water history in the city.
The thickness is scraped to the layer that holds the vestige in its genesis, initiating a recognition process from the moment which is written the first text on the vestige. Is introduced a narrative that culminates in the recognition of the layer where was written the last version of this text, which contains the last memory of the vestige in the city, before being deconstructed by the following time.
Thus, is recognized the territory of Braga. A papyrus that describes the vestige that goes through under the text and tells the story of a street, a square and a city.