Congress on the estate of D. Dinis brings together international researchers

A until Friday, the International Congress on D. Dinis, organized by the Municipality of Odivelas with the public institute Cultural Heritage and the public business entity Museums and Monuments of Portugal (MMP), has the participation of researchers from different disciplinary areas, archaeology and anthropology to entomology, history of art and conservation and restoration, from academic and scientific entities of Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.

According to the Cultural Heritage Institute, the congress aims to promote “an in-depth debate” from the multidisciplinary investigation to which the tomb and traces found were subjected, constituting “a fruitful source of historical and scientific information”.

The congress mobilizes researchers from the universities of Coimbra, Girona, Lisbon and Leicester, New University of Lisbon, John Moores University, Liverpool, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the José de Figueiredo Laboratory and different structures of the National Heritage of Spain, Armaria to the Royal Collections of the Royal Palace of Madrid.

The program, divided into five panels, besides addressing D. Dinis and his time, extends to other cases of study, such as the anthropological and forensic research of Pedro III de Aragon (Spain) and the investigation that led to the identification of the remains of Ricardo III (United Kingdom).

“ These examples frame the research on D. Dinis in an international movement of valorization of the material remains of historical figures linked to the real power and application of scientific methodologies to the interpretation of heritage ", says the Cultural Heritage Institute, in a statement.

The project of Conservation and Restoration of the Tomb of D. Dinis, in the Monastery of Odivelas, was launched in 2016, on the initiative of the former Directorate-General of Cultural Heritage, on the basis of the current Cultural Heritage Institute and MMP, in partnership with the municipality, recalls the institute.

The tumular ark was opened in 2019 and led to the discovery of the king's sword, a silver buckle and various textiles, in a process that also covered the tomb of Infante, one of D. Dinis' grandchildren, also buried in the monastery.

The tomb of the king was closed on June 28, 2023, but the analysis of the materials continued, highlighting the forensic study developed by a multidisciplinary team, which had the participation of the Archaeoscience Laboratory, the Cultural Heritage, and the Laboratory José de Figueiredo, MMP, among other entities.

In 2025, the monarch's facial reconstruction was revealed.

In February this year, the spoil of the king's and infant's tombs was classified as national treasure.

The foundation of the classification proposal underlined “the high patrimonial interest” of this estate, defining it as “an unprecedented historical-artistic set, which demonstrates values of memory, antiquity, authenticity, originality, creativity, rarity and singularity”.

The decree that established the classification emphasized for its part “the matrix character of the goods, [their] interest as remarkable testimonies of historical experiences or facts, the aesthetic, technical and intrinsic material value, the interest as symbolic and religious testimonies and its importance in the perspective of historical and scientific research and what is reflected in it from the point of view of collective memory, as well as the circumstances likely to cause decrease or loss of the permanence or integrity of the goods and the effective need for protection and appreciation of the whole”.

The International Congress on D. Dinis (1261-1325) is part of the initiatives that mark the 700 years of the death of the monarch.