Chiado

The Contemporary Side to Art

The mere mention of this district in Lisbon evokes times of intellectual fervour, of aristocratic elegance, of bohemian lifestyle.

People would come here to see and be seen, to pass judgement on the elegance of clothes and conduct of others, or lack of it.

Here fashions were forged and the news oh the day was discussed. Passing through the cobbled streets of Chiado, Eça de Queiroz would bump into characteres from his books – João da Ega and Carlos da Maia strolling along the Rua do Loreto and across the Largo de Camões. This is also where Fernando Pessoa would sit (and still sits, this time as a bronze statue) on the terrace in front of the Brazileira café.

Chiado for over a century, has been a centre for Portuguese arts and literature. Dancers from the São Carlos theatre, singers from the Academia dos Amadores de Música, painters gathering in the Academy of Fine Arts, poets searching for their muse, journalists sniffing out a story.

And here, in this Lisbon district, with is strong cultural tendencies, home to the São Carlos and São Luiz Theatres, to the National Dance Company, and to the Grémio Literário literary society, we find the Museu do Chiado, opened for the first time in 1911 in the ancient setting of the convent of São Francisco da Cidade, in a building that, following the major fire of 1988, was renovated in 1994 to designs from French architect Jean-Michel Willmonte.

Lisbon Cathedral – Sé

Santa Maria Maior de Lisboa or Sé de Lisboa is the cathedral of Lisbon and the oldest church in the city. Since the beginning of the construction of the cathedral, in the year 1147, the building has been modified several times and survived many earthquakes. It is nowadays a mix of different architectural styles.

Lisbon is the seat of a bishopric since the 4th century AD (see Patriarch of Lisbon). After the period of Visigothic domination the city was conquered by the Moors and stayed under Arab control from the 8th to the 12th century, although Christians were allowed to live in Lisbon and its surroundings. In the year 1147, the city was reconquered by an army composed of Portuguese soldiers led by King Afonso Henriques and North European crusaders taking part on the Second Crusade (see Siege of Lisbon). An English crusader named Gilbert of Hastings was placed as bishop, and a new cathedral was built on the site of the main mosque of Lisbon.

This first building was completed between 1147 and the first decades of the 13th century in Late Romanesque style. At that time the relics of St Vincent (Vincent of Saragossa, patron saint of Lisbon) were brought to the cathedral from Southern Portugal. In the end of the 13th century King Dinis of Portugal built a Gothic cloister, and his successor Afonso IV of Portugal had the main chapel converted into a royal pantheon in Gothic style for him and his family. In 1498, Queen Leonor founded the Misericórdia of Lisbon in one of the chapels of the cloister of the cathedral. The Misericórdia (Mercy) is a Catholic charitable institution that later spread to other cities and had a very important role in Portugal and its colonies.

Earthquakes have always been a problem for Lisbon and its cathedral. During the 14th and 16th centuries there were several of them, but the worst of all was the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, which destroyed the Gothic main chapel along with the royal pantheon. The cloisters and many chapels were also ruined by the quake and the fire that followed. The cathedral was partially rebuilt and, in the beginning of the 20th century, was given the appearance that it has today after a profound renovation. In recent years the central courtyard of the cloister has been excavated and shows signs of the Roman, Arab and mediaeval periods.

Rossio – Praça do Rossio

The Rossio is the popular name of the Pedro IV Square (Portuguese: Praça de D. Pedro IV) in the city of Lisbon, in Portugal. It is located in the Pombaline Downtown of Lisbon and has been one of its main squares since the Middle Ages. It has been the setting of popular revolts and celebrations, bullfights and executions, and is now a preferred meeting place of Lisbon natives and tourists alike. The current name of the Rossio pays hommage to Pedro IV, King of Portugal as well as first Emperor of Brasil (as Pedro I). His bronze statue is seen on top of a column in the middle of the square.

Origins
The Rossio became an important place in the city during the 13th and 14th centuries, when the population of the city expanded to the lower area surrounding the Lisbon Castle hill. The name “rossio” is roughly equivalent to the word “commons” in english, and refers to a commonly owned terrain. Around 1450, the Palace of Estaus, destined to house foreign dignataries and noblemen visiting Lisbon, was built on the north side of the square. After the Inquisition was installed in Lisbon, the Palace of Estaus became its seat, and the Rossio was frequently used as setting for public executions. The first auto-da-fé took place in 1540. In 1492, King John II ordered the building of one of the most important civil and charitative infrastructures in old Lisbon, the All-Saints Royal Hospital (Hospital Real de Todos os Santos). The Hospital was finished in 1504, during the reign of King Manuel I, and occupied the whole eastern side of the square. Old pictures show the façade of the Hospital to consist of a long building with an arched gallery. The portal to the chapel of the Hospital, facing the Rossio, had a magnificent façade in manueline style. Near the northeastern corner of the square, actually in the neighbouring St Domingo Square, is located the Palace of the Almadas, recognisable by its early 18th century red façade. In 1640, this Palace was the meeting point of Portuguese noblemen who conspired against Spain and led to the independence of Portugal from Spanish rule. The building is also called the Palace of the Independence for this reason. The Convent of St Domingo was established in the 13th century by the Rossio. Their church was greatly damaged by the 1755 Earthquake and was rebuilt in baroque style. Its façade dominates the small St Domingo square.

Significance
The Rossio has been a meeting place for people of Lisbon for centuries. Some of the cafés and shops of the square date from the 18th century, like the Café Nicola, where poet Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage used to meet friends. Other traditional shops include the Pastelaria Suíça and the Ginjinha, where the typical Lisbon spirit (Ginjinha) can be tasted. The building of the Maria II Theatre and the Public Gardens to the north of the square only made the area more attended by Lisbon high society in the 19th century. Nowadays it is constantly populated by Lisboners and tourists.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lisbon 4U

If you want to publish information about Lisbon such as restaurants, museums, hostels, hotels, bars, etc., send us an e-mail.

Welcome to Lisbon 4U!

Marquês de Pombal

Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Count of Oeiras, 1st Marquis of Pombal, (13 May 1699 – 15 May 1782) was an 18th century Portuguese statesman. He was Minister of the Kingdom (the equivalent to a today’s Interior Minister) in the government of Joseph I of Portugal from 1750 to 1777. He was undoubtedly the most prominent minister in the government, and today he is usually considered to have been the de facto head of government. Pombal is notable for his swift and competent leadership in the aftermath of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. In addition he implemented sweeping economic policies in Portugal to regulate commercial activity and standardize quality throughout the country. The term Pombaline is used to describe not only his tenure, but also the architectural style which formed after the great earthquake.

Early life
Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, was born in Lisbon, the son of Manuel de Carvalho e Ataíde, a country squire with properties in the Leiria region, and of his wife Teresa Luísa de Mendonça e Melo. During his youth he studied at the University of Coimbra and then served briefly in the army. He then moved to Lisbon and eloped with Teresa de Mendonça e Almada (1689–1737), the niece of the Count of Arcos Sebastião. The marriage was a turbulent one, as his wife had married him against her family’s wishes. The in-laws made life unbearable for the young couple; the newlyweds eventually moved to Melo’s properties near Pombal.

Political career
In 1738, Melo received his first public appointment as the Portuguese ambassador to Great Britain. In 1745, he served as the Portuguese ambassador to Austria. The Queen consort of Portugal, Archduchess Mary Anne Josepha of Austria (1683–1754), was fond of him; after his first wife died she arranged for him to marry the daughter of the Austrian Field Marshal Leopold Josef, Count von Daun. King John, however, was not pleased and recalled him in 1749. John V died the following year and his son Joseph I of Portugal was crowned. Joseph I was fond of Melo; with the Queen Mother’s approval he appointed him as Minister of Foreign Affairs. As the King’s confidence in him increased, the King entrusted him with more control of the state. By 1755, the King appointed him Prime Minister. Impressed by English economic success, which he had witnessed while he was Ambassador, he successfully implemented similar economic policies in Portugal. He abolished slavery in Portugal and the Portuguese colonies in India, reorganized the army and the navy, and ended the Limpeza de Sangue (cleanliness of blood) statutes and their discrimination against New Christians, the Jews that had converted to Christianity, and their descendents regardless of genealogical distance, in order to escape the Portuguese Inquisition.

Pombaline Reforms
The Pombaline Reforms were a series of reforms with the goal of making Portugal an economically self-sufficient and commercially strong nation, by means of expanding Brazilian territory, streamlining the administration of colonial Brazil, and fiscal and economic reforms both in the Colony and in Portugal. During the Age of Enlightenment Portugal was considered small and lagging behind. It was a country of three million people in 1750; 200,000 people lived in the nation’s 538 monasteries.[citation needed] The economy of Portugal before the reforms was a relatively stable one, though it had become dependent on colonial Brazil for much of its economic support, and England for much of its manufacturing support, based on the Methuen Treaty of 1703. Even exports from Portugal went mostly through expatriate merchants like the English Port wine shippers and French businessmen like Jácome Ratton, whose Memoirs are scathing about the efficiency of his Portuguese counterparts. The need to grow a manufacturing sector in Portugal was made more imperative by the excessive spending of the Portuguese crown, the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, the expenditures on wars with Spain for Brazilian territory, and the exhaustion of gold mines and diamond mines in Brazil. His greatest reforms were however economic and financial, with the creation of several companies and guilds to regulate every commercial activity. He demarcated the region for production of port, to ensure the wine’s quality; his was the first attempt to control wine quality and production in Europe. He ruled with a heavy hand, imposing strict laws upon all classes of Portuguese society, from the high nobility to the poorest working class, and via his widespread review of the country’s tax system. These reforms gained him enemies in the upper classes, especially among the high nobility, who despised him as a social upstart. Further important reforms were carried out in education by Melo: he expelled the Jesuits in 1759, created the basis for secular public primary and secondary schools, introduced vocational training, created hundreds of new teaching posts, added departments of mathematics and natural sciences to the University of Coimbra, and introduced new taxes to pay for these reforms.

AntiJesuit
Having lived in Vienna and London, two major centres of the Enlightenment, Melo increasingly believed that the Jesuits, with their grip on science and education, were an inherent drag on an independent, Portuguese-style iluminismo. He was especially familiar with the anti-Jesuit tradition of England, and in Vienna he had made friends with Gerhard van Swieten, a confidant of Maria Theresa of Austria and a staunch adversary of the Austrian Jesuits and their influence. As prime minister Melo engaged the Jesuits in a propaganda war, which was watched closely by the rest of Europe, and he launched a number of conspiracy theories regarding the order’s desire for power. During the Távora affair (see below) he accused the Societas Jesu of treason and attempted regicide, a major public relations catastrophe for the order, in the age of absolutism. The Jesuits and their apologists emphasized the order’s role in trying to protect native Americans in the Portuguese and Spanish colonies, and the fact that the limitations placed upon the order resulted in the so-called Guarani War in which the Guarani tribes people were decimated by Spanish and Portuguese troops. However, at the time such arguments counted for far less than charges connected with the Jesuits’ alleged activities in Europe. Pombal was an important precursor for the suppression of the Jesuits throughout Europe and its colonies, which culminated in 1773, when Pope Clement XIV abolished the order.

The Lisbon earthquake
Disaster fell upon Portugal on the morning of November 1, 1755, when Lisbon was struck by a violent earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 9 on the Richter scale. The city was razed by the earthquake and ensuing tsunami and fires. Melo survived by a stroke of luck, and then immediately embarked on rebuilding the city, with his famous quote: What now? We bury the dead and feed the living. Despite the calamity, Lisbon suffered no epidemics, and within less than a year it was already being rebuilt. The new central area of Lisbon was designed to resist subsequent earthquakes. Architectural models were built for tests, and the effects of an earthquake were simulated by marching troops around the models. The buildings and major squares of the Pombaline Downtown of Lisbon are one of Lisbon’s main tourist attractions: they are the world’s first earthquake-proof buildings. Melo made also an important contribution to the study of seismology, by designing a survey that was sent to every parish in the country. The questionnaire asked whether dogs or other animals behaved strangely prior to the earthquake, whether there was a noticeable difference in the rise or fall of the water level in wells, and how many buildings had been destroyed and what kind of destruction had occurred. The answers have allowed modern Portuguese scientists to reconstruct the event with precision.

The Távoras affair
Following the earthquake, Joseph I gave his Prime Minister even more power, and Melo became a powerful, progressive dictator. As his power grew, his enemies increased in number, and bitter disputes with the high nobility became frequent. In 1758, Joseph I was wounded in an attempted assassination when he was returning from a visit to his mistress, a young Távora Marchioness. The Távora family and the Duke of Aveiro were implicated, and they were executed after a quick trial. The Jesuits were expelled from the country, and their assets confiscated by the crown. Melo showed no mercy, prosecuting every person involved, even women and children. This was the final stroke that broke the power of the aristocracy and ensured the Prime Minister’s victory against his enemies. In reward for his swift resolve, Joseph I made his loyal minister Count of Oeiras in 1759. Following the Távoras affair, the new Count of Oeiras knew no opposition. Made Marquis of Pombal in 1770, he effectively ruled Portugal until Joseph I’s death in 1777.

Fall and death
King Joseph’s successor, Queen Maria I of Portugal, disliked the Marquis. She never forgave him the ruthlessness he had displayed against the Távora family, and she withdrew all his political offices. The Queen also issued one of the world’s first restraining orders, commanding that the Marquis should not be closer than 20 miles from her presence. If she were to travel near his estates, he was compelled to remove himself from his house to fulfill the royal decree. Maria I is reported to have had tantrums at the slightest reference to her father’s former Prime Minister. Pombal built a palatial villa named Oeiras. The villa featured formal French gardens enlivened with traditional Portuguese glazed tile walls. There were waterfalls and waterworks set within vineyards. Pombal died peacefully on his estate at Pombal in 1782. Today, Lisbon’s most important square and busiest underground station is named Marquês de Pombal in his honor. There is an imposing statue of the Marquis in the square as well. João Francisco de Saldanha Oliveira e Daun, 1st Duke of Saldanha was a grandson.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Merca Tudo Restaurant

Located on a small and narrow street of Santos, this is a place for everybody but regular costumers are in majority. Inside, shows an informal and vintage decoration. The food is good and also the price. A place that you must visit. The Cordon Bleau is delitious!

Aditional information
Close: Sunday
Horário de Encerramento: 23h
Food: Portuguese, Mexican and French
Observations: only open for dinner
Price: 20 euros
No smoking

Adress
Rua do Merca-Tudo 4 - Lisboa
1200-267 LISBOA
Contact
(+351) 21 396 93 68

National Theater – Dona Maria II

Located in Rossio Square (downtown), the National Theater is one of the most importante icons of the Portuguese culture.

"The theatre was built on the north side of Rossio square on the site of the old Estaus Palace, built around 1450 as a lodging for foreign dignitaries and noblemen visiting Lisbon. In the 16th century, when the Inquisition was installed in Portugal, the Estaus Palace became the seat of the Inquisition. The palace survived the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, but was destroyed by fire in 1836.

Thanks to the intensive efforts of Romantic poet and dramatist Almeida Garrett, it was decided to replace the old palace by a modern theatre, dedicated to Queen Mary II of Portugal. The building was constructed between 1842 and 1846 to a Neoclassical design by Italian architect Fortunato Lodi.

The building is the best representative of Neoclassical architecture of Palladian influence in Lisbon. The main feature of the façade is a portico (hexastyle) with six Ionic columns reused from the Saint Francis Convent of Lisbon and a triangular pediment. The tympanum of the pediment is decorated with a sculpted relief showing Apollo and the Muses.

The pediment is topped by a statue of Renaissance playwriter Gil Vicente (c. 1464-c. 1536), considered the founder of Portuguese theatre. Ironically, some of Gil Vicente’s plays had been censured by the Inquisition in the late 16th century.

The interior of the theatre was decorated by many important 19th-century Portuguese artists, but much of this decoration was lost in a fire in 1964. The theatre had to be completely renovated and was reinaugurated only in 1978."

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lisbon Sala Ogival – Wine Taste & Shop

From Tuesday to Saturday, between 11.00 and 19.00, ViniPortugal’s Lisbon Sala Ogival is open to the public, located in the Ministry of Agriculture premises in Praça do Comércio (“Black Horse Square”). In elegant surroundings one can taste fine Portuguese wines furnished by producers through their respective regional winegrowing commissions. A selection of wines from three different regions changes every three weeks, thus ensuring a showing of all Portugal’s winegrowing regions and some of its top wines in a short space of time. Wines available for tasting can be purchased by visitors at the Lisbon Sala Ogival and ViniPortugal staff are always on hand to provide information on the wines on current offer. The Lisbon Sala Ogival is the first permanent space devoted to promoting Portuguese wines, preceding its sister location in Oporto, which opened on February 7, 2007 in the Palácio da Bolsa in the historic area of the city. The Lisbon space was ceded by the Ministry of Agriculture, and an investment of €200,000 was spent in renovating the tasting rooms, designed by the same architect responsible for the Portuguese Wine Pavilion in Expo’98.

For more information
Adress: Terreiro do Paço 1100-148 Lisboa
Mobile: +351 916 606 576
Tel.: +351 213 420 690
Fax: +351 213 420 691
E-mail: sala.ogival@viniportugal.pt

Bairro Alto

Bairro Alto (literally upper quarter in Portuguese) is an area of central Lisbon, Portugal.

The first terrain division occurred around 1500, when the court of D. Manuel I moved from the castle to the royal palace in Terreiro do Paço. The need for housing led the king to force farmers to resign their lands. Nowadays, it functions as a residential, shopping and entertainment district. Bairro Alto is one of the oldest districts in Lisbon. Dozens of fado singing clubs animate the area. All major Portuguese newspapers once had their offices in here. Prostitution was visible and considerable.

Since the 1990s, Bairro Alto went through major changes. Lisbon’s city council made extensive repairs, and dozens of new restaurants, clubs and trendy shops were opened. Many young people moved into the area. Cars were banned (except for residents and emergency vehicles). Today, Bairro Alto (or just Bairro) is the heart of Lisbon’s youth culture and nightlife. Lisbon’s artists, alternative, punk, gay, heavy metal music, goth, hip hop and reggae scenes all have the Bairro as their home, due to the number of clubs and bars dedicated to each of them. During daytime, the Bairro is a traditional district where older people shop for groceries, and the younger generations visit art galleries like Zé dos Bois, bookshops or arty gift shops like Hold Me.

Despite the heavy police presence, illegal drugs are sold in the streets. In 1995, a group of far-right skinheads attacked and killed Alcino Monteiro, a Portuguese citizen of African origin. This zone struggles with a problem of vandalism, with graffiti destroying historical buildings, such as the place of death of Fernando Pessoa and Almada Negreiros.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Caulino – Handmade ceramics

is a place where you can buy contemporary ceramics and see the artists working at the studio. We want it to be a place to share with other ceramists and everyone who likes ceramics.

The project is the result of the work and effort of ceramists Anna Westerlund, Cátia Pessoa, Conceição Lami and Sofia Magalhães.

If you are a ceramist and you would like to work in Portugal you can use our workshop.

For more information
loja@caulino.com
(+351) 21 888 62 88

Where
Rua de São Mamede ao Caldas nº 28, 1000-999 Lisboa – PORTUGAL

doclisboa 2008

"The execution" Yue Minjun

Welcome to the VI Lisbon International Documentary Film Festival.
Culturgest, Londres Cinema and São Jorge Cinema.
Between 16 to 26 October.

During eleven days more then 150 films.

"DocLisboa has established itself as one of the world's leading documentary film festival"

James Norton – Vertigo

Avenida da Liberdade

After the 1755 earthquake, Restauradores and the bottom part of present avenue were laid out as the Passeio Publico (Public Promenade) , which was the meeting place of the bourgeoisie society of the time. But this disappeared in 1879 when the avenue was opened as a traffic artery. The avenue is 100 metres wide, making it one of the widest in Europe.

One of the first things that strikes the visitor is the beautiful black and white pavements of the avenue stand out.

A short way up the avenue, on our right, we can see the bust of Simon Bolivar, who led the revolt that led to the expulsion of the Spanish from South America and the independence of most of the present countries of that continent. It was a gift from the Portuguese community of Venezuela, the country where Bolivar was born.

Farther up we come to two small lakes, one on each side of the road. They represent the rivers Douro and tagus. Then we come, on our left, to the memorial to the dead of the first world war, known as the Cenotaph in english. This stands in front of the Parque Mayer, which was once the centre of entertainment and theatre in Lisbon. It is not so active as in the past , but it still has some good restaurants and a theatre.

On the last crossroads of the avenue are busts of four famous 19th - century writers - Alexander Herculano, novelist and historian, Oliveira Martins, historian, and the novelists Almeida Garret and Feliciano Castilho.

The buildings on the avenue are from the 18th to the 20th century and the architects of some of them have received the valbom Prize, which is awarded every year for the best building constructed in Lisbon.

National Holidays

1 January
New Year's Day

Moveable
Carnival
Tuesday, date varies. This is an optional holiday, although it is usually observed. 47 days before Easter Sunday.

Moveable
Good Friday
Friday before Easter

Moveable
Easter
Sunday, date varies.

25 April
Freedom Day
Celebrates the 1974 Revolution that ended the Dictatorship and started Democracy

1 May
Labour Day

Moveable
Corpus Christi (feast)
Thursday, date varies. 60 days after Easter Sunday.

10 June
Portugal Day
Dia de Portugal, de Camões e das Comunidades Portuguesas
National Day

13 June
St Anthony's Day
Local holiday

15 August
Assumption

5 October
Republic Day
Celebrates the end of Monarchy and the beginning of the Portuguese Republic

1 November
All Saints Day

1 December
Restauration of Independence
Celebrates the end of the Iberian Union (1580-1640)

8 December
Immaculate Conception

25 December
Christmas Day

Black Horse Square (Praça do Comércio)

The real name of this square today - Praça do Comércio in Portuguese - is Trade Square in English. The portugues also call it Terreiro do Paço, which in English mean Palace Coutyard. What is curious is that none of these names has anything to do with the square nowadays - no commerce is carried out, there is no palace or courtyard and there is no black horse any more. There are, however, historical reasons for all three names.

As we know, Lisbon became the richest city of europe at the beginning of the 16th cebtury when the Portuguese cornered the spice markets of Africa and Asia. As he wanted to be where everything was happening, near the docks where the ships unloaded their precious cargoes, King Manuel decided to build a palace where the square lies today, hence the name Palace Courtyard. The House of India, from where the spice trade was controlled, was also constructed here and the square became the commercial centre of the city.

But this place and square were completely destroyed by the 1755 earthquake and the present square was laid out immediately afterwards and given the name of Trade Square. But when the bronze statue was erected in the middle of the square, English sailors started calling it Black Horse Square, because that was the colour of the statue when seen from the middle of the river, and the name stuck.

For many centuries this square was Lisbon´s entrance hall, as the onlyb practical way of reaching the city was by sea. it was only with the advent of modern roads and motorised transport that it lost the privilege of receiving all of Portugal´s distinguished visitors.

As already mentioned, the square that we see today was built after the great earthquake of 1755. The square and a great part of downtown are not built on terra firma but on thousands of stakes that rest on the river bed.The stakes are actually pine trunks, of trees that were cut down while still green. The sap that is contained in these trunks prevents them from rotting, even in salt water. A large part of the city of Amsterdam was built in the same way. Most of the beautiful arcaded buildings around the square house various ministries and the stock exchange, plus a post-office and the famous Martinho da Arcada café, one of the intellectual centres of Lisbon.

The bronze statue in the middle of the square is of King Joseph, who was reigning at the time of the great earthquake. It was made in the army arsenal - the present Military Museum - by Machado de Castro. it was the first bronze statue of this type to be made in one piece in Portugal. The Statue and its pedestal weigh 30 tons. A special vehicle was constructed to carry the statue of the square. It was pulled by thousand people and the journey took three days. The statue depicts the King´s Horse treading on a snake which represent the enemies. The sculptures on each side of the pedestal represent Triumph an Fame.

On the side facing the Tagus is a medallion of the Marquis of Pombal and on the side facing the Downtown an allegory symbolizing the royal generosity in the rebuilding of Lisbon.

The Triumphal Arch that leads us into Rua Augusta was built in the Second half oh the 19th century. The fous statues on the columns represent Nuno Alvares Pereira, Viriato, the marquis of Pombal and Vasco da Gama, while the two allegorical figures flanking them depict the rivers Tagus and Douro. The allegoric group topping the arch, executed by the Frenchman Calmels, represents Glory crowning Genious and Valor.

Two important political events have taken place in Black Horse Square this century. The first was the assassination of King Charles and his son and heir in 1908, two years before the republic was proclaimed. Charles was the only Portuguese King to be assassinated. His son, Luis Filipe, has his name in the Guiness Book of records as the shortest-reigning monarch in history. When his father died he automatically became king, but unfortunately he also expired some five minutes later. The second event took place on April 25th 1974, when the military that overthrew the old dictatorial regime launched their coup d´etat from here.

The Downtown

The downtown we see today was planned and constructed after the 1755 earthquake. prior to this it was similar to Alfama, a maze of narrow twisting streets. It was rebuilt in what was then considered to be a revolutionary plan of wide stright streets laid out in a grid system. The first pavements, or sidewalks in american english, were laid here, in patterns of black basalt and white limestone that remind us of the colours of Lisbon.

All the houses of the downtown are the same, erected in a simple economical design, known as pombaline style, that was imposed by the lack of money. The ground floor was shops, an intermediate floor between the ground and first floors was for offices and the upper floors for residences. All the buildings are topped by attics and sloping tiled roofs. The facades are simple and devoid of any decorative elements, except for the wrought-iron balconies of the first floor.

The streets running from Black Horse square to Rossio were given the name of the tradesmen that worked there, with the exception of the central one which was called Rua Augusta ( Main Street). the oyhers are called Rua Áurea (goldsmith´s), da Prata (Silversmith´s), dos Sapateiros (shoemaker´s), dos correeiros (Saddler´s or Harness-maker´s) and dos Fanqueiros(Draper´s).

The streets that run parallel to the river bear the names of the patron saints of other groups of trades or professions.

In one of the latter streets we can see the Santa Justa Lift (St Justa is the patron saint of potters), the first iros construction erected in Lisbon. It was built at the end of the 19th century by an engineer named Ponsard, who lived in the north of Portugal and was a disciple of the famous French engineer Eiffel.

Is is worth going up in the lift owing to the fine view over the city that may enjoyed from the top. Once at the top, one may visit thr ruins of the Monastery of Carmo, a 14th century Gothic construction that was damaged by the earthquake and never rebuilt.

The Monastery was built by Nuno Álvares pereira, the Constable of the Kingdom of John I and Victor of Battle of Aljubarrota. Today the remains of the monastery house the portugues Archaeological Society and an Archaeological Museum.

The Downtown has always been the main shopping zone of Lisbon.