Buçaco Forest

Buçaco Forest () is an ancient, walled arboretum in the Centro region of Portugal and home to one of the finest dendrological collections in Europe. The forest measures and covers an area of ; the perimeter wall is approximately in circumference and punctuated by a series of gates, one of which bears the text of 17th-century papal bulls forbidding women to enter and threatening to excommunicate anyone harming the trees, though neither stipulation is currently legally binding under Portuguese law. More than 250 tree and shrub species grow in the forest, including huge centenarians and exotics introduced by Portuguese mariners during the Age of Discovery. In 2004 Portugal submitted Buçaco Forest to UNESCO's tentative list of World Heritage Sites.

Many of the forest's trees have been discussed in popular and academic literature. In 1634, for example, a Portuguese scholar authored a collection of poems that mentioned Buçaco's cypresses; in 1768 an English botanist provoked a 200-year-long debate by claiming one of the forest's cypress varieties originated in Goa; in the late 1990s wine writer Hugh Johnson visited the arboretum and described a Tasmanian mountain ash as "surely Europe's most magnificent"; more recently, historian and arborist Thomas Pakenham included one of the forest's bunya pines in his book, ''Remarkable Trees of the World''.

Buçaco Forest was once home to Discalced Carmelites: the monks built a convent, small chapels and the encircling walls, and tended the arboretum until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1834. At the end of the 19th century much of the convent was demolished to make way for an extravagant neo-Manueline palace. The palace was conceived as a retreat for the Portuguese royal family, but after the Lisbon Regicide and subsequent ''coup d'état'' it was converted to a luxury hotel, the Buçaco Palace.

Geography and climate

Buçaco Forest is situated on the northwestern tip of the Serra do Buçaco in Portugal's Centro region. It covers an area of and is enclosed by a perimeter wall just over in circumference. Dimensions are ; elevation ranges from ; a prevailing microclimate is characterized by mild temperatures, frequent morning fog and precipitation almost double the regional average. The nearest urban centre is Coimbra, an ancient university city and former capital of Portugal; the nearest parish is Luso, a spa town renowned for its mineral waters.

History

Buçaco Forest was first settled in the 6th century by friars from a nearby Benedictine monastery; five hundred years later the Bishops of Coimbra took possession of the forest and in 1628 donated it to the Order of Discalced Carmelites. The Carmelite monks promptly built a convent, perimeter walls and the first of the forest's ten gates, ''Portas de Coimbra'' (''Coimbra Gate''). Two papal bulls were issued during this period: the first, dated 1622, prohibited women from entering the forest; the second, dated 1643, threatened to excommunicate anyone found harming the trees. The text of both bulls is engraved on stone tablets affixed to the outer wall of ''Portas de Coimbra''. At the end of the 17th century small chapels representing the Stations of the Cross were built along the ''Via Sacra'', a steep, winding path that leads from the convent to the forest's highest point, ''Cruz Alta''. The length of the path and distances between chapels were carefully measured to depict Christ's journey from the Mount of Olives to Calvary.

In September 1810 the tranquility was shattered by the Battle of Bussaco: the future Duke of Wellington, commanding an Anglo-Portuguese army of more than 56,000 men, maintained a defensive position on the Serra do Buçaco and succeeded in checking General Massena's advance into Portugal. Wellington stayed at the convent in Buçaco Forest during the days preceding the battle; an olive tree to which he tethered his horse still stands and is labelled "Wellington's olive tree".

Soon after the abolition of religious orders in 1834, ownership and management of the forest was transferred to the Administração Geral das Matas do Reino. A period of change ensued: the forest's area was expanded from ; neglected buildings were restored and new, exotic tree species introduced; a staircase leading up to the convent was remodeled into the ''Fonte Fria'' (''Cold Fountain''), a cascading water stairway and one of the forest's most notable architectural features. In 1888 much of the convent was demolished to allow construction of a sumptuous neo-Manueline palace. The palace was conceived as a retreat for the Portuguese royal family, but after the Lisbon Regicide and subsequent ''coup d'état'' it was converted to a luxury hotel, the Buçaco Palace.

In 2004 Portugal submitted Buçaco Forest to UNESCO's tentative list of World Heritage Sites. The UNESCO website describes the forest as "the archetype of an eighteenth-century romantic landscape", adding that it "boasts a remarkable botanical and scenic heritage" and is a place of "rare and outstanding beauty". José Saramago, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature, declared, "Buçaco forest demands a whole vocabulary which, once spoken, tells us that there's still everything left to say. You don't describe Buçaco forest. The best thing is to lose yourself in it." In 2009 the forest's present governing body, Fundação Mata do Buçaco, was established to manage, conserve, revitalize and exploit the forest. A year later the European Union's LIFE programme subsidized an initiative aimed at preserving the oldest segment of the forest and controlling threats posed by invasive, non-indigenous species. The project is known as BRIGHT (Bussaco's Recovery from Invasions Generating Habitat Threats) and scheduled to run until 2016.

Flora

Buçaco Forest has one of the finest dendrological collections in Europe. More than 250 tree and shrub species grow in the forest, including towering centenarians and exotics introduced by Portuguese navigators during the Age of Discovery. The forest comprises four distinct landscapes: the arboretum, which forms about 80% of the forest's area; the ''Floresta Relíquia'' (''Forest Relic''), a small, ancient woodland characterized by laurel