rel="nofollow" href="#fb3_img_img_b34949fc-c01f-5e0d-b003-18dae6c5af84.png" alt=""/> 21/885-48-20. Admission 3€ adults, 1.50€ ages 15–25, free for children under 14; free for all Sun after 2pm. Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; closed holidays. Tram: 28.
Sé de Lisboa
Although damaged by the 1755 earthquake, the Sé remains an impressive example of Romanesque architecture with a barrel-vaulted ceiling and arched upper-level gallery. Graceful Gothic additions were made in later centuries. Most notable are the airy cloisters
Among the treasures inside are the font where St. Anthony is said to have been christened in 1195; the 14th-century Gothic chapel of Bartolomeu Joanes
Largo da Sé.
Baixa & Chiado
The Baixa is the commercial heart of old Lisbon, its handsome plazas connected by a grid of streets lined by solid five-story building erected after the 1755 earthquake. Climbing up the hill to the west, Chiado’s elegant shops, theaters, and cafes recall the days of 19th-century artists and poets, while neighboring Bairro Alto and Príncipe Real are today’s hip nightlife and shopping hubs.
Convento do Carmo & Museu Arqueológico
In a stark monument to nature’s destructive power, the pointed Gothic arches point skyward like the ribs of a skeletal whale. The church was the center of a convent that was built in the 14th century by Nuno Álvares Pereira, the kingdom’s richest nobleman and a military hero for defeating Spanish invaders at the battle of Aljubarrota (p. 18). When construction was completed, Álvares Pereira gave away his wealth and lived there as a humble monk. Pope Benedict made him a saint in 2009.
The magnificent church tumbled like most of Lisbon in 1755, and its soaring nave was left as a memorial to quake victims. Surviving structures at the back rooms contain the Archeological Museum
In summer, concerts, plays, and open-air movie screenings are held in the ruins, which are even more evocative in the evening light. The entrance is on one of the Chiado’s prettiest squares. Next door, guarded by soldiers in plumed helmets, is the headquarters of the National Republican Guard (GNR) where the remnants of Portugal’s 46-year dictatorship surrendered to revolutionary forces in 1974.
Largo do Carmo. www.museuarqueologicodocarmo.pt.
Chiado & Bairro Alto
Igreja de São Domingos
In Easter 1506, an argument broke out in the church between a Jewish man who had recently converted to Christianity and other worshipers in what was then one of the biggest churches in Lisbon. The dispute sparked a pogrom against Lisbon’s Jewish community. Before King Manuel sent the royal guard to quell the violence, an estimated 2,000 Jews were murdered.
More horrors were to come. Manuel’s successor João III invited the Holy Inquisition to Portugal. This became the inquisitors’ church. Hundreds of suspected heretics were burned at the stake over the next 250 years, many in the square facing the church. Most victims were “New Christians”—Jews who converted to avoid being exiled from the country.
In 1987, President Mário Soares asked the Jewish community for forgiveness and in the 2000s, a memorial was placed in front of the church and a ceremony declared Lisbon a “City of Tolerance” open to all races and religions.
Largo de São Domingos.
Igreja e Museu de São Roque
The church is lined with side chapels gleaming with gold, but its crowning glory is the Chapel of St. John
The church was a headquarters of the Jesuits, the wealth and power of which led the Marquis of Pombal to kick them out of the country in the 1750s because of a perceived threat to Portugal’s secular rulers. A museum
Largo
