Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

This essay aims to be a valid contribution to the discussion on the access to information in the archives of religious communities and the limits imposed on it to protect the privacy of natural and legal persons. It assumes as axes of analysis the practice of managing sensitive data kept in the archives of religious communities, the legitimacy of access to privacy of third parties and the expectations of the collective in relation to private archives.

The main purpose of this brief article is to contribute to the valorization of the systematically forgotten arrábidos’ architectural heritage, despite its importance for Portuguese history and culture, and despite the existence of academic studies and other monographic works about some of its convents. With this return to a subject we have previously studied, we believe that we are now adding new results of ongoing research, which includes, among others, the classic 'fieldwork' as one of the crucial methods in the perception of the built heritage. As well as the rereading of the Franciscan writings, the basis for the understanding of the arrábidos’ architectural heritage. In the article we deal with Franciscan architecture built from the year 1542, in Portugal, for the Province of Santa Maria da Arrábida, of the Strict Observance. The year 1542 corresponds to the beginning of the construction of its first convents and the year 1698 to the publication of their Statutes. In our study we highlight the five small convents which, with their small scale and stripped architecture, materialised in fact the “Franciscan spirit”. These are the convents of Serra da Arrábida, Serra de Sintra, Évora de Alcobaça, Loures and Verderena. Founded in 1542, 1560, 1566, 1573 and 1591 respectively.

The proposed reflection is based on a set of assumptions, articulating the concepts of History, Social Memory and Memory Institutions, among which the archives are included. In the current 'present society', a set of questions have emerged in the public debate which require a critical reflection on the social uses of the past and a special attention to the role of History and Archivistics. It is in this cultural environment, and in the context of the development of information technologies, that we will try to identify some of the most immediate challenges that face the archives, as "memory institutions", in the announced "knowledge society".