Learning from Lusitania: Portuguese architectural influence in the British Empire

For a long time the empires of Portugal and Britain have occupied largely unrelated historiographies. Although these empires rose and fell at different moments in history, operating to and motivated by distinct cultural and political traditions, it does not necessarily follow that there was no cross-fertilisation of ideas. This is particularly true with respect to architecture and urbanism.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, at the relative height of British imperial power, the Church of England sought to extend its cultural and religious influence in a far more systematic manner than had hitherto been the case. This project concerned the erection of new and more imposing churches, right across the empire. Part of the problem was adapting ecclesiastical buildings to climatic conditions that were entirely different from those experienced in the British Isles, including tropical—or what were referred to as 'torrid'—zones.

In looking around for potential solutions to this problem, English ecclesiologists seized upon Southern European traditions in ecclesiastical architecture, including those of Portugal. This extended to considering how Portuguese missionaries adapted their churches architecturally to cope with tropical and sub-tropical conditions. In doing this Anglican ecclesiologists were looking for a set of planning and construction principles that might aid them in erecting churches in similar environmental conditions throughout the British empire. This paper will trace the thinking behind this strategy and how it grew out of and is related to an appreciation of architectural models that had been tested over two-hundred years earlier in the Portuguese empire.