MOURARIA

MARINA TAVARES DIAS

(LISBOA DESAPARECIDA, volume I):

«Until the 1950s, the traditional quarter called Mouraria was very much larger that what it is today. Many of its streets and historical buildings were demolished at a time during which it was believed that areas housing the common folk were both lacking in interest and very unhealthy. In the western part of Mouraria, only the Hermitage called Nossa Senhora da Saúde (built in 1705) was left standing. The Socorro Church and the Alegrete Palace were demolished between 1949 and 1951. The old Apollo Theatre disappeared in 1956. Even the last archway of the old walls built during King Fernando's reign was knocked down at the start of the 1960s. Decades passed without the Lisbon City Council knowing how to mend the gaping wound left in city's historical centre. Reconstruction work was only completed a few months ago on the area known today as Praça Martim Moniz (a square named in honour of the hero who had won Lisbon for the Christians). The solution to the problem lay in providing ample pedestrian walks and a network of fountains where once, long ago, houses had been. [,,,]»

FEIRA DA LADRA – THE FLEA MARKET

«He who has not seen the Feira da Ladra even once has no idea how much vitality death has!» – so wrote Júlio de Castilho. The Flea Market is as old as the conquest of Lisbon itself and its name «Feira da Ladra» appeared for the first time in a municipal ordinance of 1610. But the market still held today (every Tuesday and Saturday) at Campo de Santa Clara has only been held since 1882. Before that, it was situated at Campo Santana, in a square called Praça da Alegria and near St. George’s Castle. 

The famous curse cast on the Santa Engrácia Church lasted four long centuries. It was once said by an unfortunate man condemned to die while protesting his innocence that he would be avenged and the work going on at the time to build the church would never be done. At long last, the dome was finally finished (with the use of concrete) during the 1960’s. Before this date, all photographs of the church showed its incomplete state.

MARINA TAVARES DIAS

in LISBON FOR THE TOURIST WHO LOVES HISTORY

THE FATEFUL CONFLUENCE OF RIVERS

As from the 15th century, the centre of Lisbon was established in a deep valley which had been covered by river waters many centuries before. It was a swampy piece of ground forking off into two riverbeds that had long-since dried up. During the Iron Age, these two small tributaries of the River Tagus ran along courses that were later to become the two first avenues in Lisbon, Avenida da Liberdade and Avenida Almirante Reis. 

The broad valley where they converged was to become Rossio. Curiously enough, the sound of underground running water may still be heard in the cellars of the D. Maria II Theatre. The whole of northern Rossio’s area lies on the confluence of rivers. This has always been held responsible for all kinds of disasters happening there. 

Fire destroyed the National Theatre (1964) and the S. Domingos Church (1959) and before them, fire also gutted the Inquisitional Palace along with the tragic records stored in there. One such record has to do a famous playwright known as «The Jew» who, after being imprisoned in Rossio, was burned at the stake in Terreiro do Paço (the Royal Palace Grounds) in 1739. Some say the confluence of rivers is answerable for many of the Inquisition’s tragedies. [...]

Marina Tavares Dias 

in 

LISBON FOR THE TOURIST WHO LOVES HISTORY