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117-406: The bairro or "neighbourhood" resulted from urban expansion in the 16th century , forming outside the walls of the historical city, and is characterized by an almost orthogonal tract (developing from two phases of distinct urbanization). It is a fundamental quarter of Lisbon, organized into a hierarchical scheme of roads and lanes: the roads, the structural axis, run perpendicular to the river; and

234-503: A UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake , in combination with subsequent fires and a tsunami , almost totally destroyed Lisbon and adjoining areas. Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal , took the lead in ordering the rebuilding of the city, and was responsible for the creation of the elegant financial and commercial district of the Baixa Pombalina (Pombaline Lower Town). During

351-409: A Muslim possession. In 1147, after a four-month siege , Christian crusaders under the command of Afonso I captured the city and Christian rule returned. In 1256, Afonso III moved his capital from Coimbra to Lisbon, taking advantage of the city's excellent port and its strategic central position. Lisbon flourished in the 15th and 16th centuries as the centre of a vast empire during the period of

468-605: A Portuguese minority), the Genoese were the most numerous expatriate community, followed by those of the Venetians and other Italians, and the Dutch and English. These merchants brought new cartographic and navigational techniques to Portugal, as well as an understanding of financial and banking practices and of the mercantilism system, not to mention the knowledge gained through their contacts with Byzantine and Muslim middlemen of

585-746: A characteristic that is missing from the zones adjacent to the Bairro Alto, preserving an intimacy and unique character. In addition to being formed in an orthogonal layout, the construction in the Bairro Alto used new construction techniques for the time: the transition from buildings built in wood to those completed in stone masonry. The older homes in the bairro, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries are characteristically two types: low buildings with two storeys (ground and first floor), square, asymmetric with small windows and sills; and buildings that were long and narrow, consisting of three floors with windows, balconies and aligned spans. The first type, from

702-486: A different urban nucleus. Bairro Alto is characterized by orthogonal blocks, sometimes rectangular, with a proportion of two lots wide by six or eight lots in length, with many of the length dimensions accompanying the roads, while the shorter dimensions following the lanes. This spatial configuration is not fixed completely within the district. For example, north of the Travessa da Queimada , the blocks, although maintaining

819-462: A high occupancy and little space. Architectural influences from the 20th century are limited, and restricted to a few points. 38°42′44″N 9°08′42″W  /  38.71222°N 9.14500°W  / 38.71222; -9.14500 History of Lisbon The history of Lisbon , the capital city of Portugal , revolves around its strategic geographical position at the mouth of the Tagus ,

936-512: A luxury, salt and the Lusitanian horses renowned in antiquity. After the disintegration of the Roman empire and the subsequent feudalisation of society, the first waves of invaders, including Alans , Germanic tribes , Huns , and others, swept into the peninsula. Initially accepted as settlers in lands depopulated by the terrible epidemics (probably measles and smallpox) that killed much of

1053-588: A major new fair or market. Consequently, the Portuguese merchants, Christian and Jewish, not only reestablished some of the old trade links of al-Us̲h̲būna with Seville and Cádiz, and in the Mediterranean with Constantinople, but also opened up new trade routes to the ports of northern Europe that the Muslims rarely visited because of religious differences. Lisbon became a conduit for maritime trade between

1170-603: A need to increase the number of residential homes, speeding the growth of the Bairro. The first Jesuits arrived in Portugal in 1540. In 1551, the civil parishes of Mártires and Loreto included 2464 homes and 20132 inhabitants. The second phase of urbanization in the Bairro Alto began around 1553, with the implantation of the Society of Jesus ( Portuguese : Companhia de Jesus ) in the civil parish of São Roque, initiating

1287-626: A period of polarized growth, due to their presence. At that time, the zone to the north of Estrada de Santos began being referred to as the Bairro Alto de São Roque . This new phase, growth extended from São Roque until the terrains of the Palace of the Counts of Avintes to the north, limited by the Rua de São Boaventura , Rua do Loureiro , Rua da Cruz and Rua Formosa (now Rua do Século). In 1559,

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1404-527: A prominent position in society. The Slavic slave Sabur al-Saqlabi ((Sabur the Slav)) became, during what was later known as the régulo eslavo , ruler of the Taifa of Badajoz . He was the son of Sabur al-Jatib, a Slav who had been in the service of al-Hakam II . His sons Abd al-Aziz ibn Sabur and Abd al-Malik ibn Sabur ruled successively as emirs of the Taifa of Lisbon . Al-Us̲h̲būna was renovated and rebuilt in

1521-448: A rectangular form, are of different dimensions, with the laneway-side representing those of longer length. It is this model that guides the blocks where the majority of the 16th and 17th century buildings are located. In a few cases, there are also meio chão configurations, destined for those of the population with less financial resources. Further, there are rare instances in the district where one lot may encompass an entire block, such as

1638-465: A semi-rural character, with single-storey houses and courtyards, until the alteration of Rua D. Pedro V (the old Estrada da Cotovia ), when the construction of four- and five-storey homes came to eliminate these early residences. In 1887 the Caixa Geral de Depósitos was installed in the Palace of Sobral. The old Travessa da Estrela became known as Rua Luísa Todi in 1917. In the middle of

1755-612: A settlement to unload and reprovision Phoenician ships sailing on trade voyages. Legend tells that they sailed to Cornwall in Britain and the legendary Tin Islands, or Cassiterides , to buy tin from the natives, but this is unsubstantiated. The Phoenicians established a trading post at the site, supposedly called Alis Ubbo , meaning "Pleasant Haven" or "Safe Harbour" in the Phoenician language . It may have been an outpost of

1872-509: A short time until the return of the division of the Taifa brought autonomy and prosperity for al-Us̲h̲būna. In 1111 a new pan-Hispanic Caliphate was established after an Almoravid invasion from the deserts of Morocco led by the caliph Ali ibn Yusuf . His general, Zir ibn Abi Bakr, Yusuf's nephew, forced Lisbon to surrender in 1111 after several unsuccessful attempts, and was later stopped in the region of Tomar by Gualdim Pais , Grand Master of

1989-485: A social position individual Jews of Lisbon might attain, however, they were always the first victims of popular revolts. Their living quarters were segregated from those of the rest of the population and they were forbidden to go out at night; as well as being forced to wear distinctive clothes and to pay extra taxes. The Moorish quarter was the corresponding ghetto for Muslims, containing the Great Mosque situated on

2106-578: A strong characteristic of the façade, with protruding balconies, fine gratings, frame spans over worked masonry and the application of curved lines, especially in the design of courtyards and windows along street corners. At the same time, some buildings were constructed to house workers, organized into villages or in courtyards, such as the Pátio do Tijolo (literally, the Yard of Bricks ). These were multi-family buildings, usually two to three storeys in height, with

2223-637: A strong quake in 382 AD, but the exact amount of damage to the city is unknown. The town was located between the Castle Hill and the Baixa, but most riparian areas were at the time still submerged by the Tagus. Olissipo in Roman times was an important commercial centre, providing a link between the northern countries and the Mediterranean Sea. Its main products were garum , a fish sauce considered

2340-520: A symmetry made possible by a central staircase, with two opposite sets, and the windows in the mansard roofs. By the beginning of the 19th century, the Pombaline style gave way to a simplification and enhancement of the Pombaline-era buildings. While, generally, the gaioleiro -style reinforcement of the buildings is not common, many of the Pombaline buildings were redesigned in keeping with

2457-470: A system of price controls for the benefit of their members. The aristocracy, attracted to Lisbon by the court, established its presence in the city with the building of large palaces, and served in the bureaucratic offices of governmental administration. But the most powerful segment of society in Lisbon, even after the city gained its status as the nation's capital, was the bourgeoisie , the merchant class that

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2574-592: A territory that extended 50 kilometres (31 mi), and was integrated within the Roman province of Lusitania, whose capital was Emerita Augusta . The city was granted the Latin Rights (ius Latii) , giving its citizens the privileges of Roman citizenship and exempting them from paying taxes. The city population was around 30,000 at the time. Among the majority of Latin speakers lived a large minority of Greek traders and slaves. Earthquakes were documented in 60 BC, several from 47 to 44 BC, several in 33 AD and

2691-711: A variety of Vulgar Latin. Speaking the Mozarabic language, a Romance language similar to that spoken in Galicia and the northern provinces, was tolerated by the Muslim authorities as one of the rights of residence allowed the dhimmi , in exchange for their paying a tax, the jizyah . This Mozarabic community, which followed the heretical Arian Christian rites and customs of the Visigoths, was usually ostracised by Roman Catholics. The Jewish community, which had existed since

2808-642: A wall to protect the Cais da Ribeira from pirate raids, and reconstruction of the Alcáçova or Moorish Palace (later destroyed in the 1755 earthquake) and the Sé. Just as there were Portuguese communities in the cities of northern Europe, there were colonies of merchants from the rest of Europe in Lisbon, then one of the most important cities in international trade. Not counting the Jewish population (already established as

2925-593: A youth-oriented heart of the sub-culture and nightlife of Lisbon. In 2002 some arteries in the Bairro were restricted to pedestrian traffic. A 2004 dispatch from the President of the IPPAR, dated 11 November, determined the opening of a process to classify the district as architecturally significant. From 1 November 2008, many of the bars in Bairro Alto were forced to close their doors at 2:00 a.m., due to noise complaints. However, after 1 August 2009, this restriction

3042-494: Is highly dense, somber and where only the upper floors are exposed to direct sunlight. The design of the roadways that run through the Bairro Alto, consists of a hierarchy of structural roads, oriented north to south in the direction of the Tagus River , and secondary lanes, perpendicular to the roads, running east to west. The hierarchy of these routes are homogeneous in scale, with little variation in size in roads or lanes,

3159-585: The Praça do Comércio (Commerce Square) is today was reclaimed from the sea by draining the already muddy terrain (the river flowed freely until the time of the conquest, but had become clogged due to sediment deposits). New streets were laid out, such as Rua Nova , while the Rossio square became the city centre, stealing that distinction from the Castle hill. Other construction projects initiated by King Denis included

3276-654: The Hispano-Roman population. These sects were a form of political organization in revolt against the hierarchical system of the Muslim conquerors which institutionalised obstacles to their social mobility . The elite descendants of Muhammad ranked first, then full-blooded Arabs, then Berbers or Moors, and lastly the Arabised Muslims and Hispano-Romans. Several Hispano-Roman leaders emerged, including Ali ibn Ashra and others, who claimed to be prophets or descendants of `Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib , regarded by Shias as

3393-526: The Hundred Years' War , on the other were Castile and France. During Ferdinand's reign, Portugal started a war with Castile, and Lisbon boats armed with cannons were recruited to participate in an unsuccessful Genoese attack on Seville. In response to this provocation, the Spaniards laid siege to Lisbon , taking it in 1373, but departed when they were paid a ransom. It was following this calamity that

3510-889: The North Sea and the Mediterranean, and thanks to advances in navigation, the volume of ocean shipping increased. Portuguese merchants opened trade houses in Seville, Southampton , Bruges , and in the cities of the Hansa, which later joined to form the Hanseatic League . Meanwhile, the Portuguese Jews continued to trade with their relatives in North Africa. They exchanged Portuguese olive oil, salt, wine, cork, honey and wax as well as wool and fine linen textiles, tin, iron, dyes, amber, guns, furs and artisanal works of

3627-582: The Order of Knights Templar of Portugal. This new caliphate did not last long, and soon the times of divided taifas and a powerful al-Us̲h̲būna had returned. Internal dissensions eventually divided the loyalties of the kingdoms in al-Andalus of the 11th century; the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031 led to a period of smaller successor states (taifas), while the Kingdom of León lying directly to

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3744-524: The Peninsular War , (1807–1814) Napoleon's forces began a four-year occupation of the city in December 1807, and Lisbon descended with the rest of the country into anarchy. After the war ended in 1814, a new constitution was proclaimed and Brazil was granted independence. The 20th century brought political upheaval to Lisbon and the nation as a whole. In 1908, at the height of the turbulent period of

3861-647: The Portuguese discoveries , This was a time of intensive maritime exploration, when the Kingdom of Portugal accumulated great wealth and power through its colonisation of Asia, South America, Africa and the Atlantic islands. Evidence of the city's wealth can still be seen today in the magnificent structures built then, including the Jerónimos Monastery and the nearby Tower of Belém , each classified

3978-702: The Republican movement , King Carlos and his heir Luís Filipe was assassinated in the Terreiro do Paço . On 5 October 1910 , the Republicans organised a coup d'état that overthrew the constitutional monarchy and established the Portuguese Republic . There were 45 changes of government from 1910 through 1926. The right-wing Estado Novo regime, which ruled the country from 1926 to 1974, suppressed civil liberties and political freedom in

4095-579: The Rua Nova dos Mercadores , where the Great Synagogue was located. The Jews (perhaps 10% of the population, or even more) were great traders, who took full advantage of connections to their coreligionists throughout Europe, North Africa and the Middle East . Those who did not engage in trade were largely scholars or professionals such as doctors, lawyers, cartographers and other specialists in

4212-537: The Rua da Barroca do Mar . By 1527, there were a total of 408 buildings in the area, totalling 1600 inhabitants. During the 1530s, the agglomeration began to spread towards the old Estrada de Santos (now the Calçada do Combro ), tracing or following to the north of this route, where it encountered Rua da Rosa , Rua da Atalaia , Rua dos Calafates (now Rua Diário de Notícias ), Rua das Gáveas , Rua do Norte and Rua de São Roque . The 1531 earthquake resulted in

4329-470: The Rua do Capelão (Chaplains Street). However, they were not as prosperous nor as educated as the Jews, since the Muslim elites had fled to North Africa, while the Jews, who were literate speakers of Portuguese, had no other homeland. Most Muslims were workers in low-skilled, low-wage jobs and many were slaves of Christians. They had to display identifying symbols on their robes and pay extra taxes, and suffered

4446-999: The Umayyad Caliphate based in Damascus, Syria, soon after the beginning of Muslim rule in Iberia. An ongoing rebellion (740–743) of the Berber or "Moorish" elite against the Umayyads had spread through the Maghreb (North Africa) and across the Strait of Gibraltar to al-Andalus , but needed reinforcements to defeat the caliphate. When the Umayyad dynasty was finally toppled by the Abbasid Revolution in 750, Abd al-Rahman I , an Umayyad prince, fled with his family from

4563-791: The Visigothic Kingdom controlled most of Hispania . In 711, Muslims, who were mostly Berbers and Arabs from the Maghreb , invaded the Christian Iberian Peninsula, conquering Lisbon in 714. What is now Portugal first became part of the Emirate of Córdoba and then of its successor state, the Caliphate of Córdoba . Despite attempts to seize it by the Normans in 844 and by Alfonso VI in 1093, Lisbon remained

4680-469: The relics of Saint Vincent of Saragossa were buried in the Algarve. He made his way southward to reclaim the martyr's remains. but when he arrived at the village it had been totally destroyed and there was no sign of the burial site. A flock of crows was seen flying over the place when the remains were finally found in 1176, and according to legend, two crows accompanied the boat that was carrying them all

4797-496: The 12th and 13th centuries stimulated innovations in the construction of boats, the sturdy but clumsy barge ( barca ) becoming obsolete when a gradual synthesis of Christian, Viking and Arabic sea-going knowledge led to the development of the caravel (first mentioned in the early 13th century), the first truly seaworthy Atlantic sailing ship. Professions in the maritime industry , such as those of ships-carpenters and sailors, were allowed certain privileges and protections, including

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4914-558: The 1994 European City of Culture , as well as host of Expo '98 and the 2004 European Football Championships . The year 2006 saw continuing urban renewal projects throughout the city, ranging from the restoration of the Praça de Touros (Lisbon's bullring) and its re-opening as a multi-event venue, to improvements of the metro system and building rehabilitation in the Alfama . There are traces of human occupation for many thousands of years in

5031-597: The 20th century (1945), the Instituto do Vinho do Porto installed itself in the Palace of Ludovice , in a project under the architect Jorge Segurado. The creation of the Gabinete Técnico do Bairro Alto ( Bairro Alto Technical Council ) in 1989, and the beginning of a city council policy on urban rehabilitation and renewal. In the last decades of the 20th century, there was a significant socio-cultural dynamic in

5148-404: The Anglo-Norman chronicler, in June and July 1147 a more numerous force of crusaders, consisting of 164 boatloads of English, Norman , and Rhenish crusaders, left from Dartmouth in England bound for the Holy Land. Bad weather forced the ships to stop on the Portuguese coast at Porto where they were persuaded to join in a new assault on the city. While the Portuguese forces attacked by land,

5265-451: The East formed communities that exchanged local products with the Byzantine Empire , Asia and India. After three centuries of looting by invaders and the devastation of its economy, Ulixbona was reduced to little more than a village by the beginning of the 8th century. In 711, taking advantage of a civil war in the Visigothic Kingdom, the Arabs, led by Tariq ibn Ziyad , invaded the Iberian Peninsula with their Moorish troops. Ulixbona, like

5382-422: The Flemish cohort violated their oaths to the king of Portugal after entering the city and plundered it. These crusaders behaved in a wanton manner, looting Muslims and Mozarabs indiscriminately, debauching virgins and even cutting the throat of the elderly Mozarab bishop. Afterwards, an epidemic of the plague killed thousands among the Mozarabic and the Muslim populations. Afonso I officially took possession of

5499-747: The Great Fernandine Walls ( Grandes Muralhas Fernandinas de Lisboa ) of Lisbon were built. On the lower end of the social scale in Lisbon were all types of labourers and street merchants, as well as fishermen and farmers of vegetable gardens. In this era the streets were occupied by tradesmen who had organised artisans' guilds directed by masters of their respective trades. These included: Rua do Ouro (Goldsmiths' Street), Rua da Prata (Silversmiths' Street), Rua dos Fanqueiros (Drapers' Street), Rua dos Sapateiros (Cobblers' Street), Rua dos Retroseiros (Mercers' Street) and Rua dos Correeiros (Saddlers' Street). Such corporations were formed for social protection and to educate apprentices, and were employed to enforce

5616-487: The Kingdom of León to become the independent Kingdom of Portugal in 1139. It was eventually attached to Lisbon, thus integrating the territories adjoining the entire length of the Tagus. Famed for its opulence, al-Us̲h̲būna's capture would bring the kingdom great prestige. Afonso I and his Christian forces first attempted to conquer the city in 1137 but failed to breach the city walls. In 1140 crusaders passing through Portugal launched another unsuccessful attack. According to

5733-401: The Palace of Andrade and the Palace Ludovice. During the Pombaline era, there was an increase in the number of multiple lots with the standard dimensions. The large occupation rate in the 17th and 18th centuries originated in the changes to the dimensions of these blocks. Many of the buildings were expanded, both in height, in addition to size. It is this form that predominates the Bairro, which

5850-411: The Phoenicians, which would account for the recent findings of Phoenician pottery and other material objects. Archaeological excavations made near the Castle of São Jorge ( Castelo de São Jorge ) and Lisbon Cathedral indicate a Phoenician presence at this location since 1200 BC, and it can be stated with confidence that a Phoenician trading post stood on a site now the centre of the present city, on

5967-440: The Portuguese knight Martim Moniz led an attack on the castle doors and when he saw the Moors closing them, blocked the doorway with his own body, allowing his companions to enter, and was crushed. With the success of the crusaders' assault on the city's walls with siege engines , the Moors capitulated on 22 October. According to an account by the priest Raol addressed to Osbert of Bawdsley (Osbernus), Germans from Cologne and

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6084-453: The Strait of Gibraltar. As the Holy Roman Empire lost influence over its kingdoms, duchies and city-state constituents , the German merchants, hitherto the masters of European trade, were forced to seek new markets in the East . With the new prosperity and increased security of Lisbon after the final conquest of the al-Gharb or al-Garve (Arabic: al-Gharb , "the west"), in 1256 Afonso III took note of its obvious advantages and chose

6201-520: The Tyrian colony at Gadir ( Cádiz ). The indigenous settlement extended from the highest hill in the vicinity, where the Castle and Cathedral now stand, to the Tagus. For centuries, the Phoenicians had cultivated relationships with the indigenous peoples on the Atlantic coast of Iberia. From what was a simple outpost for trade with northern Europe, the Tagus settlement became an important centre of commercial trade where they exchanged their manufactured products for valuable metals, salted fish and salt with

6318-416: The area of what is now Lisbon. Its terrain was made attractive by the advantages of dwelling near the River Tagus and its estuary. The first human inhabitants were probably the Neanderthals , who gradually became extinct about 30,000 years ago when modern humans entered the Iberian Peninsula . During the Neolithic period, the region was inhabited by an unknown people who lived in farming communities near

6435-403: The area, as a great part of the nightlife became dependent on the restaurants and bars of the quarter. Lisbon's city council made extensive remodelling and repairs to the district, resulting in the opening of new restaurants, clubs and trendy shops. While cars were restricted in the district (except for residents and emergency vehicles), many young people began to live in the Bairro; it is generally

6552-458: The border between Muslim and Christian Iberia remained north of the Douro. In 844 several dozen Viking boats sailed into the Sea of Straw. After a siege of 13 days, the Scandinavians conquered the city and the surrounding territory, but eventually retreated in the face of continued resistance by the townspeople led by their governor, Wahb Allah ibn Hazm. At the beginning of the 10th century, various Islamic sects rose in al-Us̲h̲būna and converted

6669-449: The capital in Damascus across North Africa to al-Andalus, and gained independence from the new Abbasid Caliphate . There he established the Umayyad Emirate of Córdoba and Lisbon came under its dominion. With the beginning of the Reconquista , the opulent al-Us̲h̲būna became a target of raids by the Christians, who plundered the city first in 796 and on other occasions in the following years, led by King Alfonso II of Asturias , but

6786-480: The city by the original inhabitants of the Turduli settlement. The suffix "-ippo" (-ipo), present in " Olissipo " (the Roman name of Lisbon), is typical of Tartessian or Turdetani linguistic influence. Lisbon's name was written Ulyssippo in Latin by the geographer Pomponius Mela , a native of Hispania . It was referred to as "Olisippo" by Pliny the Elder and by the Greeks as Olissipo (Ὀλισσιπών) and Olissipona (Ὀλισσιπόνα). According to local legend,

6903-431: The city of Almada , was built on the south bank of the Tagus to protect the port. The Arabs and Berbers introduced new methods of irrigated agriculture that were much more productive than the old Roman system of irrigation. The waters of the Tagus and its tributaries were used to irrigate the land in summer, producing several crops a year of vegetables including lettuce and annual crops of oranges. Lisbon became part of

7020-487: The city of Lisbon was founded by the mythical hero Odysseus . The Estrímnios (in Portuguese) are given by some historians as the first known native people of Portugal. Called Oestrimni (Latin for "people of the far west") by the Romans, they extended their territory from present-day Galicia to the Algarve during the Late Bronze Age (1200–700 B.C.). These indigenous communities engaged in maritime and overland commerce, their fortified settlements dominating trade on

7137-400: The city of various peoples including the Carthaginians , Romans, Suebi , Visigoths , and Moors . Roman armies first entered the Iberian peninsula in 219 BC, and occupied the Lusitanian city of Olissipo (Lisbon) in 205 BC, after winning the Second Punic War against the Carthaginians. With the collapse of the Roman Empire , waves of Germanic tribes invaded the peninsula, and by 500 AD,

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7254-401: The city on 1 November, when the Great Mosque in the Moorish Aljama was dedicated to St. Mary in a religious ceremony converting it to a Cathedral. He appointed Gilberto of Hastings , an English crusader, the first Catholic bishop of the city, and granted lands and titles to many of the most prominent crusaders in the region. After conquering the city, Afonso I received information that

7371-430: The city was one of the largest cities in Europe at the time, several times larger than Paris and London, which then had only 5,000–10,000 inhabitants each. Most of the Hispano-Roman inhabitants adopted the Arabic language of the Muslim invaders, who, although a minority among the population, had become the new elite. The members of the Mozarabic Christian population had their own bishop, and were speakers of Arabic, or

7488-419: The city's earliest days, grew more influential as Jews established themselves as merchants and gained the financial advantage of living in the city's rising commercial hub. Besides salt, fish and horses, they traded spices from the Levant, medicinal herbs, dried fruit, honey and furs. The Saqaliba (Arabic: Saqāliba ), slaves from Eastern Europe who served as mercenaries , joined the population and also acquired

7605-410: The city, the building was already decrepit. He had the structure rebuilt and enlarged under the name of the first cathedral of Lisbon, Santa María , and all the privileges of Mérida , the ancient ecclesiastical capital of the former Roman province of Lusitania, passed to the new diocese. Afonso I granted Lisbon a Foral in 1179, and tried to restore the city's commercial connections by inaugurating

7722-408: The civil parish of Santa Catarina was created. Less than a decade later, the Largo de São Roque was formed, and the beginning of the construction of new church and residences of the Society of Jesus were initiated. The enlargement of the route between the Portas de Catarina and Largo de São Roque would occur in 1569, becoming known as the Rua Larga de São Roque . The civil parish of Encarnação

7839-511: The coast. Some of the megalithic burial chambers in the region around Lisbon appear to have been built by Mesolithic pastoral-hunting peoples. They built religious monuments called megaliths , dolmens and menhirs that still survive in the periphery of the city. Permanent settlements are not shown in the archaeological record until c. 2500 BC. Writers in the Middle Ages such as theologian Isidore of Seville , and historian Lucas de Tuy , Bishop of Tuy , refer to ancient popular legends that

7956-450: The construction of houses. The new urbanization would be designated Vila Nova de Andrade . After the establishment of a grid network of roads, the first houses began to be built, with the majority popping-up south of the Portas de Santa Catarina in 1514. The remainder of the homes also began occupying plots along Rua das Flores , Rua do Cabo , Rua do Castelo , the consecutively named Rua Primeira , Segunda and Terceira , in addition to

8073-462: The creation in 1242 of a maritime judicial office in Lisbon called the Alcaide do Mar (Alcaide of the Sea). An indirect effect of this economic dynamism was that Lisbon's trade contributed to the ruin of the south German merchants, who engaged in the same commerce by using a more costly land route between the ports of Italy and those of the Netherlands and the Hansa that was only viable when Muslim pirates and their ships controlled southern Spain and

8190-401: The creation of the Bairro Alto. In 1505, the construction of the new royal palace , resulted in the move of the Court to the riverfront, and extended the city until the Cais do Sodré . Around 1513, the first move to divide the lands of the Bairro Alto began, under the approval of Lopo Atouguia. Bartolomeu de Andrade and his wife Francisca Cordovil received permission to section-off plots for

8307-469: The crusaders, lured by promises of booty to be taken and prisoners to be ransomed, set up their siege engines, among them catapults and towers, and attacked both by sea and land, preventing the arrival of reinforcements from the south. In their first encounters the Muslims killed many Christians; this affected the Crusader's morale, and occasioned several bloody conflicts between the various Christian contingents. Legend has it that after many previous attempts,

8424-520: The customary pattern of the Middle Eastern city: high walls ( muralhas ) surrounding the main buildings, which were a large mosque, a castle at the top of the hill (which in modified form became the Castelo de São Jorge), a medina or urban centre, and an alcácer , or fortress-palace for the governor. The Alfama neighbourhood grew next to the original urban core. The citadel of al-Madan, now

8541-492: The death of Guedelha Palaçano, an influential figure in the kingdom: his widow transferred lands situated on the western limit of the city to the King's equerry , Filipe Gonçalves. The land rights for these lands were sold in 1498 to the nobleman Luís de Atouguia. Between 1499 and 1502 various royal letters, signed by King Manuel , indicated that there was a need to demolish the balconies and verandas that occupied public spaces in

8658-873: The decisive victory of Scipio at the Battle of Ilipa in Spain in 206 BC, the Carthaginian hold in Iberia was broken. Following the defeat of the Carthaginians in eastern Hispania, the pacification of the West was led by Consul Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus . Brutus obtained the alliance of Olissipo by integrating it into the Empire in 138 BC. when the Romans sought to conquer the Lusitanians and other peoples of

8775-541: The design aesthetic of the time. The construction of palacettes in this Romanticism style, resulted from a collage of the French aesthetic influences, identified primarily in the north and east of Bairro Alto, and especially in the area of São Pedro de Alcântara, where the Palacete Laranjeiras is the best example. This was a period that emphasized the façade of the buildings, with large verandas. They present

8892-516: The district. This was part of a package of legislative reforms issued to improve the image of the city. A similar royal charter in 1500, was issued with the objective of transforming the free lands that still existed with the old walls. These initiatives lead to the first urbanization, named Vila Nova do Olival (around 1502), situated around the old Convent of the Trinity, using a series of administrative tools and proceedings that would, later, be used in

9009-552: The fertile lands of Oestriminis and formed a territory known to the Greeks as Ophiussa (Land of Serpents), stretching from the Douro to the Tagus. Although the first fortifications on Lisbon's Castelo hill are known to be no older than the 2nd century BC, recent archaeological finds have shown that Iron Age people occupied the site from the 8th to 6th centuries BC. This indigenous settlement maintained commercial relations with

9126-494: The first Imam . With their allies in other cities they started civil wars against the Sunni Arab troops. The Mozarabs and the Jews were treated even worse, sometimes suffering outright persecution. The king of Asturias , Ordonho I , took the city in 851, as did Alfonso VI of León in 1093 when al-Mutawakkil of Badajoz surrendered al-Us̲h̲būna, S̲h̲antarīn ( Santarém ), and S̲h̲intra ( Sintra ) to Alfonso in 1093, but it

9243-454: The history of Lisbon was written with the social revolution of the 1383–1385 Crisis . This was a time of civil war in Portugal when no crowned king reigned. It began when King Ferdinand I of Portugal died without male heirs, and his kingdom ostensibly passed to the King of Castile, John I of Castile . The powerful aristocrats and clerics in the north of Portugal owned large estates in

9360-464: The inland tribes of the region accessible by the Tagus. Although Phoenician remains from the 8th century BC have been found beneath the medieval Sé de Lisboa (Lisbon Cathedral) , most modern historians believe that Lisbon was founded as an ancient indigenous settlement that maintained commercial relations with the Phoenicians (accounting for the discovery of Phoenician pottery and artefacts at

9477-412: The lanes, or secondary axis, cut parallel to the river. The matrix of allotments reflects the persistent use of the medieval layout; the division and multiplication of this module had its origin in the variations of the architectural typology. The space constructed is dominated by living spaces implanted in long narrow lots, three to four storeys in height, with asymmetric facades consisting of windows along

9594-569: The larger rivers and coastal estuaries of central southern Portugal. The Indo-European Celts entered the Iberian peninsula in the first millennium BC and gradually spread west to the Atlantic, intermarrying with the native Pre-Indo-European population, and thus giving rise to Celtic-speaking local tribes such as the Cempsi and Sefes or Ophis ("People of the Serpents"). They colonised

9711-400: The largest and most powerful city in the kingdom for his capital, moving his court, the national archives and the treasury from Coimbra to Lisbon. Denis , the first Portuguese king to rule at Lisbon during all his reign, created the university in 1290, which was transferred to Coimbra in 1308 because of increasing conflicts between the students and Lisbon residents. At this time the area where

9828-571: The largest oil tankers. During the Neolithic period, pre-Celtic peoples inhabited the region; remains of their stone monuments still exist today in the periphery of the city. Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in western Europe, with a history that stretches back to its original settlement by the indigenous Iberians, the Celts , and the eventual establishment of Phoenician and Greek trading posts (c. 800–600 BC), followed by successive occupations in

9945-663: The location was named for the mythical Ulysses , who founded the settlement. Later, the Greek name appeared in Vulgar Latin in the form Olissipona , mentioned in the Etymologies of Saint Isidore of Seville . Recent archaeological finds show that Lisbon grew around a pre-Roman settlement on the hill of the Castelo de São Jorge, as its ancient name, Olissipo , indicates. During the Second Punic War, Mago ,

10062-589: The longest river in the Iberian Peninsula . Its spacious and sheltered natural harbour made the city historically an important seaport for trade between the Mediterranean Sea and northern Europe. Lisbon has long enjoyed the commercial advantages of its proximity to southern and extreme western Europe , as well as to sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas, and today its waterfront is lined with miles of docks, wharfs, and drydock facilities that accommodate

10179-608: The longest-lived dictatorship in Western Europe . It was finally deposed by the Carnation Revolution ( Revolução dos Cravos ), launched in Lisbon with a military coup on 25 April 1974. The movement was joined by a popular campaign of civil resistance , leading to the fall of the Estado Novo, the restoration of democracy, and the withdrawal of Portugal from its African colonies and East Timor . Following

10296-503: The magnates of the city, it was the forerunner of Portuguese overseas expansion. With rising profits, the wealthiest merchants acquired titles of nobility, even as the poorer nobles engaged in trade. Minorities in the city included Sephardic Jews and Muslims (not only the Moors but also Arabs and Islamised Arabic-speaking Latinos). There was a large Jewish quarter occupying the parishes of St. Mary Magdalene, St. Julian and St. Nicholas along

10413-461: The merchants of Lisbon (many of them small gentry ). For them, union with Castile meant a severing of trade links with England and the countries of northern Europe, and also with the Middle East; as well as a diversion of attention from their privileges and the building of commercial ships to the privileges of the nobles ( fidalgos ) and the waging of war with land armies. This helps explain why

10530-501: The monarchy concessions that favored their mercantile interests, and were a great impetus for exploration to find new markets. A mutual benefit association, the Companhia das Naus , was founded in 1380 as a kind of insurance company which required the payment of compulsory quotas from all ship owners in exchange for the sharing of losses after shipwrecks. As an umbrella organisation covering more than five hundred large vessels owned by

10647-411: The necessities of its inhabitants, and as a result, there were alterations to the layouts and façades over time. Although the 1755 earthquake did not result in great damage to the Bairro, there are examples of Pombaline-era frame system employed in some of these buildings. The Pombaline building of the period is characterized by a four-storey block with differentiated windows. The façade is recognized by

10764-530: The neighborhood, including the establishment of various newspapers, of which O Bola still remains. In 1880, the municipal council decided to widen the Rua dos Moinhos do Vento (now the Rua de São Pedro de Alcântara ), expropriating lands and buildings that restricted its expansion. In 1881, lots pertaining to the Count of Soure in the Alto do Longo area of the Bairro were opened to the public. This zone maintained

10881-455: The north for the spices, silks and herbal remedies of the Mediterranean countries, in addition to the gold, ivory, rice, alum, almonds and sugar bought from the Arabs and Moors. Shipyards were founded to build more commercial and military vessels for the naval fleet ( armada ) essential to protect this trade from Saracen pirates. Increasing demand for goods by the growing populations of Europe in

10998-541: The north was ceded the county of Portugal . The history of the county is traditionally dated from the reconquest in 868 by Vímara Peres of the city of Portucale ( Porto ), which was the port of Cale, the present Gaia . Although the county had its seat at Guimarães , the economic strength that enabled its autonomy was based in Portucale . The isolated Atlantic province, recently centred in Coimbra , separated from

11115-458: The northwest Iberian Peninsula. He also fortified the city, building defensive city walls against Lusitanian raids and rebellions. The townspeople fought beside the Roman legions against the Celtic tribes; in return the city became a Municipium Cives Romanorum and was given the name Olisipo Felicitas Julia by either Julius Caesar or Octavian . Local authorities were granted self-rule over

11232-410: The origins of imported Asian luxury goods such as silks and spices. Political tensions with Castile were counterbalanced by an alliance made in 1308 by King Denis between Portugal and England, the main trading partner of Lisbon (and also of Porto), which has continued uninterruptedly until the present. This alliance later fought on one of the two sides of the so-called Caroline War; the second phase of

11349-587: The population, their incursions soon gave way to military expeditions with the sole object of plunder and conquest. In the early 5th century the Vandals took Olissipo, followed by the Alans. In 419 Olissipo was plundered and burnt by the Visigothic king Walia , who founded the Visigothic kingdom in Spain. Remismund conquered Lisbon in 468 with the help of a Hispano-Roman called Lusidius, and finally in 469 it

11466-498: The rest of Europe, led to a series of religious, social, and economic upheavals, destroying the vibrant European civilization of the Middle Ages and the spirit of universal Christianity symbolised by the soaring Gothic architecture of its cathedrals. Yet it also paved the way for the emergence of a new civilization with the coming of the age of discovery and the rise of a revitalised spirit of scientific inquiry. A new chapter in

11583-548: The rest of the western peninsula, was conquered by the troops of Abdelaziz ibn Musa, a son of Tariq, who took the city in 714. Lisbon, known to the Arabs as "al-Us̲h̲būna" or al-ʾIšbūnah الأشبونة, again became a major commercial and administrative centre for the territory along the Tagus, collecting its raw products and exchanging them for goods from the Arabic Mediterranean, particularly Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Iraq. According to contemporary accounts,

11700-467: The revolution, there was a huge influx into Lisbon of refugees from the former African colonies in 1974 and 1975. Portugal joined the European Community (EC) in 1986, and subsequently received massive funding to spur redevelopment. Lisbon's local infrastructure was improved with new investment and its container port became the largest on the Atlantic coast. The city was in the limelight as

11817-415: The rural architectural tradition, were generally substituted for the second (which allowed a higher rate of occupation), with examples surviving to this day. The second type, which are more common, are, nonetheless, infrequent (with the exception existing along the Rua da Atalaia ). From the natural typological evolution, and growth in the resident population during the 17th century, each of these types served

11934-640: The sciences or arts. The Jewish community's business activities were fundamental to the vitality of the city's economy. The Jews of Lisbon included such distinguished families as the Abravanels , descendants of Samuel Abravanel, a converso who had served as royal treasurer in Andalusia and comptroller in Castile. He apparently fled to Portugal with his family where they reverted to Judaism and later served in high governmental positions. No matter how eminent

12051-613: The site). It is possible that the Phocaean Greeks at one time also had a trading station at the mouth of the Tagus, but were eventually driven out as the Phoenician colony of Carthage increasingly dominated maritime commerce in the western Mediterranean and expanded its naval power, with control of localised mercantile relations with Olissipo passing to that city. A multitude of Lusitanian deities, including Aracus , Carneus , and Bandiarbariaicus were worshiped at

12168-524: The south acquired during the redistribution of land after the Reconquista ; their cultural point of view was similar to that of the Castilians, with an emphasis on social distinctions based on the possession of land. They were invested in the spirit of Crusade against the Moors from the Maghreb and the potential benefits of the union of all Hispania . However, these were not the main concerns of

12285-513: The southern slope of the Castle hill. The Phoenicians are known to have traded with the resident Oestrimni and related tribes. The harbour of the Mar da Palha (Sea of Straw), a large basin in the estuary of the River Tagus near the river's mouth, is the best natural port on the Atlantic coast of Portugal, stretching 23 km at its widest point. This would have made it an ideal location for

12402-665: The temblor of 1344 leveled part of the Cathedral and the Moorish palace, or Alcáçova , and later quakes occurred in 1346, 1356 (destroying another portion of the cathedral), 1366, 1395 and 1404, all probably resulting from displacements in the same geological fault . Famine in 1333 and the first appearance of the Black Death in 1348 killed half the population; new outbreaks of lower mortality occurred in each succeeding decade. The aftermath of these disasters, in Lisbon as well as in

12519-430: The various storeys and staircases along the lateral flanks. Although less representative, the Pombaline-era buildings are common, essentially introducing modifications to the level of the façade's composition. Although there are many typological variations to the facade designs, certain elements are repeated, such as the corners, bay and sill windows, eaves and attics, securing a homogeneous urbanized front. The Bairro Alto

12636-558: The violence of the crowds. The deprecatory term saloio (countryman) came from a special levy, the salaio , that the Muslims who cultivated gardens within the city limits had to pay. Likewise, the term alfacinha (little head of lettuce) came from the cultivation by the Moors of lettuce plants, then little consumed in the north. The city's prosperity was interrupted in 1290 by the first major earthquake in its recorded history, with many buildings collapsing and thousands of people dying. Earthquakes were recorded in 1318, 1321, 1334, and 1337;

12753-422: The way to Lisbon. In commemoration of this story, the crow was chosen to adorn the city's coat of arms as a symbol of its faithful guardians; but the fearless birds are no longer found in the area. Three years later, in 1150, Afonso I built a cathedral on the site of the Great Mosque, now the Sé. The original Christian edifice built on the site had been converted into a mosque by the Moors, but when Afonso took

12870-429: The widening of the routes and construction of new buildings. Around the 19th century, the northern limites of the Bairro, including the zone around São Pedro de Alcântara up to Príncipe Real were delimited. The area was consolidated with the construction of a group of diverse buildings and specifically rental properties. The block that existed between Rua da Rosa and the Travessa do Tijolo came to condition activity in

12987-539: The younger brother of Hannibal , was stationed with his troops among the Cynetes , or Conii, in the Algarve, while Hasdrubal Gisco was encamped at the mouth of the Tagus on the Atlantic coast. After the defeat of Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC, Rome decided to deprive Carthage of its most valuable possession, Hispania (the name given by the Romans to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula). With

13104-420: Was alleviated with an extension to 3:00 a.m., which also included the increase in the number of police officers assigned to the district, to patrol the streets. Around this time, the city council approved a 1.2 million Euro investment project to improve the area's physical appearance and improve security, as well as tackling the excessive graffiti problem. Although central to Lisbon, it is normally identified by

13221-408: Was born as a response to the social and economic transformation in Lisbon in the second half of the 15th century. Commercial development caused the growth in the population, and an associated expansion of construction within the medieval walled city. It was this phenomenon that resulted in the urbanization process of the Bairro Alto district, in two distinct phases. The first phase began in 1487, after

13338-486: Was formed in 1679. Although the Bairro was not significantly affected by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake , the Marquess of Pombal developed plans to restructure the urban fabric between the Bairro Alto and Baixa, which included standardizing the largos, squares and roads. Between 1760 and 1780, was the beginning of the renovation/remodelling of the roads Rua de São Roque , Rua de Calhariz and Rua do Século , that included

13455-624: Was integrated into the Suevi kingdom whose capital city was Braga . After the invasion, the Visigoths set up their court in Toledo and following several wars during the 6th century, conquered the Suevi, thus unifying the Iberian Peninsula, including the city they called Ulixbona. During this tumultuous time, Lisbon lost its political links with Constantinople , but not its commercial connections. Merchant Greeks, Syrians, Jews, and others from

13572-547: Was soon retaken by the Amoravids in 1094. An unsuccessful new attack by the Vikings followed in 966. With the fragmentation of the Caliphate of Córdoba around the year 1000 as a result of political infighting, the notable leaders of al-Us̲h̲būna oscillated between obedience to the Taifa of Badajoz or to that of Ishbiliya ( Seville ), and were able to manoeuvre politically to obtain considerable autonomy. This situation lasted

13689-628: Was the economic powerhouse of this rising commercial centre, now among the most important in Europe. They were the magnates of commerce who controlled the city and its oligarchic council. It was to serve their needs that business professionals organised in the city: bankers to raise capital and coordinate the financial risks; lawyers to protect the rights of citizens and handle their legal cases ; naval architects and marine engineers to build boats, and scientists to design their navigational instruments . With their political influence, they could extract from

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