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Water storage cistern
- Name : Water storage cistern
- Place : Silves, Portugal
- Construction date/period : Second half of twelfth century
- Construction materials : Red “Silves” sandstone
- Dimensions : L. 18.3 m.; W. 14.52 m.; H. 6 m.
The “Dos Caes Cistern” was declared a national monument in 1990 and the Silves Municipal Archaeological Museum is centred around this structure. The museum has a large collection of ceramics and other pieces associated with the cistern, which is considered a masterpiece of Almohad (1130 – 1269) hydraulic engineering. It also bears witness to the richest period in the town’s history.
It was built in order to provide a water supply for the fortified medina and thus can be considered as part of the town’s defensive structures. It is located in the northern part of the qasaba, in the important strategic enclave of what was the Coracha (which was also doted with a stretch of fortified wall and an Albarran tower), situated near the Almedina or Loulé gate. It was supplied by rainwater collected from the roofs of neighbouring houses. One of its main tasks was to supply the adjacent hammam with water and this was achieved thanks to an irrigation network powered by a dam and a waterwheel, connecting it to the river Arade.
It was constructed using blocks of local sandstone, known for its particular red colour. The 50 cm square blocks are quite regular and are identical to the blocks used for the town’s other Almohad constructions (towers, walls etc.).
An arched roof supported by half a dozen square, central columns protects the cistern. The well can be reached by a spiral staircase, serving four floors, covered by a semi-circular arched roof. Each floor has access to the well via a window, which enabled the inhabitants to take water whatever floor they were on. The well itself is circular with a diameter of 2.45 m and is over 16 m deep, although recent digs indicate that it may have been even deeper. The water it contains comes from the local water table.
The construction of this cistern shows the advanced level of development of Islamic hydraulic engineering, whose techniques were inherited from the Romans. Although this cistern is by far the largest, other smaller structures of the same type were dotted around the medina in order to supply the different localities with water.
There are obvious comparisons to be made with other similar structures in the same style and from the same period, for example; the Aljibe of the Palace of Veletas at Caceres in Extremadura. These structures all reflect the splendour and architectural mastery of the Almohad dynasty and its reign over the territories of the al-Garb[1].
Valera Gomes, M., Valera Gomes, R., “O poço-cisterna, almoada de Silves (Algarve, Portugal)”, in El agua en zonas áridas. Arqueología e historia. Hidráulica tradicional de la provincia de Almería, Almería, 1989, Instituto de estudios almerienses, p. 575-606.
Gamito, T., “A cisterna arabe da Rua do Castelo”, in Revista Xelb : arqueología, arte e história, nº 4, 2003, p. 235-246.
Gomes, R. V., Palácio Almóada da Alcáçova de Silves, Lisbonne , 2001, p. 228.
Gomes, R. V., Silves (Xelb), Uma Cidade do Gharb Al-Andalus, Arqueologia e História (Séculos VIII–XIII), Lisbonne, 1999, University of Lisbon, Faculty of Social Sciences.
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