April 25 Bridge
After the Tagus has expanded into the 13km/8mi wide lake like "Mar da Palha" (Straw Sea) about 30km/18.5mi from its estuary into the Atlantic, it flows once again just before its mouth through a
river basin only about 2km/1.25mi wide, which immediately afterwards opens out funnel like into the Atlantic. This natural condition made it possible to build a bridge at the narrowest point, shortly before the Tagus enters the Atlantic and thus to provide a traffic link for the south of Portugal to the capital city. Until 1966 the Tagus could only be crossed 30km/18.5mi north of Lisbon via a bridge at Vila Franca de Xira or by ferry. The building of the bridge also made a direct link between the capital and the river bank lying opposite it - once the bridge was opened the number of inhabitants living on this side of the river rose dramatically.
The construction of the steel and concrete bridge was based on the plans of an American firm. Its total length measures almost 2.3km/1,5mi, the height of the carriageway about 70m/230ft, the foundations 82m/269ft below water level. The two pylons each measure 190m/623.5ft tall, the distance between the pillars a good 1,000m/3,282ft. The bridge was officially opened on August sixth 1966 with the name Ponte de Salazar; after the end of the dictatorship it was renamed Ponte 25 de Abril in memory of the revolution. The bridge offers a very impressive view of the whole of Lisbon and across to the west over Belém to the Atlantic.
Since its opening the ever increasing amount of traffic using the bridge has long exhausted its capacity. In particular, on summer Sundays and after bank holidays kilometer long queues build up on both sides of the bridge and even daily commuter traffic overloads it. The construction of a fifth lane, which can be opened either in a north-south or a south-north direction according to need, has been of only limited help. For years discussions have been held to try to solve the traffic problem. However, it was not until 1995 that a start was made on the construction of a second bridge, the Ponte Vasco de Gama, which will span the Tagus east of the city center and should be completed by 1998. The 17km/10.5mi long bridge will have six traffic lanes and will be the longest bridge in the world.
Basilica da Estrela - Interior
The singled aisled, harmoniously proportioned interior also appears light and bright. The church is completely lined with pink, white and gray marble. The ceiling is barrel vaulted, this continuing
into the chancel where it changes into a semi cupola. The high cupola spans the barrel roof creating a pleasant expanse. It is divided by large, bright windows and fluted pilasters. The conspicuous high altar was created by Pompeu Batoni in Rome.
The grave of Maria I, the only member of the Bragança family not to be buried in the family pantheon in the Igreja de Sao Vicente de Fora, can be seen in the right transept. The tomb of her father confessor (the archbishop of Évora, Inácio de Sao Caetano) is located in the sacristy. It is even more richly decorated than that of the queen.
The buildings surrounding the church and the cloisters are used today for administration and are not open to the public.
Cemetery of Pleasure
Laid out in 1833, the Cemitério dos Prazeres, the "Cemetery of Pleasure" (the name derives from a previous property on this site) lies above the Alcântara valley. The white graves stretch for more
than 110,000sq.m/ 131,560sq.yd in the shade of old cypress trees. The cemetery resembles a miniature town: along a total of 73 systematically arranged streets house like graves and mausoleums lie to the left and the right. The graves have "front doors" at whose windows hang crocheted curtains, with little tables and sometimes chairs standing inside - diverse accessories are supposed to give a homely atmosphere.
Some truly monumental, historically interesting graves are worth visiting (nos. 2060, 2086, 4090, 5250, 5284, 5411, 6301). Graves of well known Portuguese families as well as some famous personalities can be found in the Prazeres cemetery. One of the most famous, Fernando Pessoa, whose literary greatness was only recognized some time after his death, was first buried here and then moved in 1985 to the cloisters of the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos in Belém, where he now rests very close to the most important people of Portuguese history.
From the western edge of the cemetery a marvelous view can be enjoyed over the Alcântara valley, the Parque Florestal de Monsanto and the Tagus with the Ponte 25 de Abril.
Ermida de Santo Amaro
The Renaissance chapel Santo Amaro, which is unfortunately usually kept closed, lies between Belém and Lisbon city center. The ground plan, over which the chapel was built in 1549, is of interest
The round main body of the chapel is joined to the circular, somewhat lower, choir. A wide, semi circular hall lies off the the interior and is decorated with valuable tiles dating from the first third of the 17th C. The azulejos inside the chapel come from the famous tile factory at Rato. They depict scenes from the lives of the saints.
Estrela Garden
Certainly Lisbon's best loved garden is the Jardim da Estrela located opposite the Basilica da Estrela, which was laid out to a variety of designs between 1842 and 1852. Among old trees, lush
bushes and herbaceous borders there are ponds with different varieties of water birds, little fountains and an artificial grotto. Especially lovely is a large music pavilion which was built in 1884. It first stood on the Passeio Público, the forerunner of the Avenida da Liberdade. When the Avenida da Liberdade was constructed it had to move and acquired an excellent site here.
The Jardim da Estrela contains several ponds and a recreational area for children.
English Cemetery
The entrance to the old English cemetery is situated opposite the north side of the Jardim da Estrela. The author Henry Fielding, whose novels are considered to be "master works of English humour",
is buried here. He died on October eighth 1754 during holiday in Lisbon.
Museum of Ancient Art
The Museum of Ancient Art has been housed since 1884 in a palace built by Count Alvor in 1690 in which the Pombal family later lived for some time. Both the name of the street and the common
nickname for the museum, "Casa das Janelas Verdes" - house of green windows - originate from the building's shutters which were formerly painted green. The original palace was renovated several times and finally enlarged with a modern extension. A small chapel which belonged to the St Albert Carmelite monastery, founded in 1584, stood in the path of the planned extension and was integrated into the new building.
As well as an extensive art gallery the museum houses a collection of Egyptian, Greek and Roman sculptures, ceramic and porcelain, and excellent silver and gold work. Vestments, Portuguese furniture, carpets, Gobelin tapestries, Indo Portuguese handiwork and Namban works of art also form part of the collection.
The main entrance lies on the narrow west side of the building on the Jardim 9 de Abril. From this small park a marvelous view across the Alcântara harbor area to the Tagus can be enjoyed.
Museum of National Art - Ground Floor
The tour of the - Museum of National Art begins on the ground floor of the new extension. On view are pieces of Portuguese furniture and interior furnishings dating from the 15th C. to the 17th C. as well as tapestries and vestments.
National Art Gallery - First Floor
The tour of the National Art Gallery proceeds from the main floor to the first floor of the extension. Exhibits include Indo Portuguese handiwork, 18th C. Chinese and Japanese faience, Portuguese
glassware and 16th-19th C. Portuguese and Chinese ceramics.
The collection of so called Namban art is of historico cultural interest. It refers to handiwork produced as a result of the contact between Portugal and Japan between 1543 and 1639. Portuguese immigrants to Japan were called "Nanban-jin". Japanese artists portrayed the arrival of their conquerors from their point of view on large-size screens and some pieces of lacquer work. The collection of Indo Portuguese and Afro Portuguese furniture resulted from the influence of reciprocal relations.
Among the silver and gold work of the 12th-19th C. some pieces are particularly outstanding: a cross commissioned by Sancho I in 1214, a Manueline gold monstrance dating from 1506 from the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, attributed to the famous goldsmith and playwright Gil Vicente, and a processional cross from Alcobaça from the 14/15th C.
National Art Gallery - Main Floor
The ground floor of the new extension leads into the main floor of the original palace. Mainly European art from the 14th-19th C. is exhibited in this part of the museum. Included are works by Hans
Memling ("Virgin and Child"), Piero della Francesca (St Augustine"), Dürer ("St Jerome"), Cranach ("Salome"), Holbein the Elder ("Virgin and Child with Saints"), Bassano ("Virgin and Child"), Pieter Brueghel the Younger ("The Boy"), Velázquez, van Dyck, Reynolds, Hoppner and Romney. The altarpiece "Temptation of St Anthony" by Hieronymus Bosch is one of the museum's most important works. Thanks to thoughtful arrangement the black and white Golgatha scenes on the reverse can be seen.
A smaller section includes a collection of European art of to 17th-19th C., with carpets, faience, furniture, silver and porcelain.
National Art Gallery - Polyptych Adoration of St. Vincent
The most important of the Portuguese paintings is, without doubt, the polyptych from St Vincent's altar, which was found in the Sao Vicente de Fora monastery and restored in 1910. Uncertainty has
surrounded the origins of the "Adoration of St Vincent" ("Veneraçao a Sao Vicente"). Both the exact date of the work and the artist have not been clearly identified until now. It is generally accepted that Nuno Gonçalves, who was Afonso V's court artist from 1450 to 1467, painted this six-part altarpiece. The work is held to be an important historico-cultural document, as some prominent personalities from 15th C. Portuguese society are depicted on it. However, art historians are not always agreed on the identity of the people portrayed. A total of 60 people can be seen, including the most important from the age of Portugal's voyages of discovery. Men and women from the royal house of Avis, the most important sailors from this era, priests, knights, fishermen, navigators and beggars can be recognized in the picture.
Whoever the artist may ultimately prove to be, it is thought that he studied in Flanders. Although the stylistic originality of the work stands out it cannot actually be attributed to a particular European school. In contrast with the general custom of that time, the people have not been positioned in front of a background of countryside or architecture but stand alone. In this way concentration is completely directed on the serious faces and individual expressions of those portrayed.
Of the six large panels the two middle ones stand out. While all the people are only portrayed once, St Vincent appears on both the middle screens. His central position on these main screens underlines the importance the artist placed on Portugal's patron saint. As the two depictions of St Vincent are turned towards the center it is thought that there was eventually meant to be a seventh screen. This is allegedly contradicted by the lines of the ground which provide the only spatial clue; apart from that it is not known with certainty how the panels were hung, one above another, one below another on one next to another.
Particularly important people can be recognized in the left hand panel. Members of the family of King Afonso V surround St Vincent. Below on the right kneels Afonso V himself, behind him on the edge of the picture stands his son Joao, the later Joao II. Without doubt the most well known is the portrayal of Henry the Navigator (see Famous People), who was an uncle of Afonso V. On the left next to St Vincent kneels the wife of Afonso V, Queen Isabel, behind her stands Isabel of Aragón, a sister of Henry the Navigator and thus the king's aunt. In the background real people are also portrayed, although controversy reigns over their actual identities. Both the person on the very left and in the second panel on the left are thought to be self portraits of the altarpiece's supposed creator. Others maintain that Nuno Gonçalves immortalized himself on the right of the middle panels as the second person on the right in the row in the background.
On this second main panel priests and knights are gathered around St Vincent. Below on the left is Prince Fernao, Afonso V's brother and father of Manuel I. Archbishop Jaime of Lisbon can be recognized by his mitre. Clearly identifiable is the historian Gomes Eanes de Azurara on the top right, who dedicated himself in a chronicle to Henry the Navigator. The smaller outer panel on the right shows the second duke of Bragança, Fernao, and a Moorish knight. On the three remaining smaller side panels Cistercian monks from the Alcobaça monastery, fishermen and navigators can be seen. On the panel on the extreme right a beggar, a Jewish scholar with the Torah and a priest with the remains of St Vincent are depicted (chronological authenticity was apparently not adhered to).
National Art Gallery - Second Floor
The rooms on the second floor of the National Art Gallery are reserved for Portuguese art. The paintings and sculptures date from the 15th to 19th C. Portuguese paintings from 1850 to 1950 are exhibited in the Museu do Chiado.
National Museum Portuguese Works of Art
Much Portuguese art from this time comes from schools of painting. Paintings signed with "estilo Gonçalves", "estilo Gregório Lopes" or "escola portuguesa" point to this. The museum owns 16th C
works by Vasco Fernandes, Cristovao de Moraes, Cristovao de Figueredo, Frei Carlos and Francisco Henriques. A painting dating from the 16th C. shows the arrival of the relics of Santa Auta in Lisbon, which had been acquired in Cologne; this picture served after the earthquake as a model for the restoration of the Manueline entrance portal of the Convento de Madre de Deus. Exhibits include 17th C. paintings by Josefa de Obidos, Francisco Vieira Portuense and Filipo Lobo, in the 18th C. the respected portrait artist Domingos António de Sequeira was particularly outstanding.
Sala Calouste Gulbenkian
In the Sala Calouste Gulbenkian are exhibited works which Gulbenkian endowed to the National Art Museum in the 1950s, including a Greek torso of Apollo (450-400 B.C.) and the "Danaide" by Rodin.
St Albert Monastery Chapel
A few steps lead from the Sala Calouste Gulbenkian to the St Albert monastery chapel. Blue and white azulejo scenes and Talha Dourada cover the walls right up to the ceiling. Two tall side chapels
are completely decorated with azulejos. One of Machado de Castro's Christmas cribs, dating from the beginning of the 19th C., is in the anteroom. This artist's works also include the cribs in the Basilica da Estrela, the Sé Patriarchal and in the Ermida Nossa Senhora do Monte, as well as the bronze statue of José I on the Praça do Comércio. Machado de Castro has located the crib scene in a typically Portuguese landscape.
Palacio Real das Necessidades
The Palácio Real das Necessidades today accommodates the foreign ministry and is therefore not open to the public. The building was constructed between 1745 and 1750 on the order of Joao V, who had
taken a vow after a serious illness to have a royal palace built after his recovery. The building suffered little damage during the 1755 earthquake.
Maria II and her husband, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who had the Pena Palace in Sintra built, lived in the palace. Three of their sons died of a fever epidemic here. Manuel II resided in the building before he fled to Brazil in October 1910 after the revolution.
The palace was built in a style typical of the reign of Joao V with Baroque and Classical elements. The two story main building which stands on the Largo das Necessidades forms only a small part of the entire complex. A portal with an arcade porch stands out strikingly from the uniform main facade. The tower of a castle chapel projects above the north side of the building.
Largo das Necessidades
An impressively lavish fountain with fantastic figures and an 18th C. obelisk stands on the Largo das Necessidades.
Palacio das Necessidades
The wooded park enclosed fine trees like magnolias, dragon trees, redwoods and cedars. There is an ornamental zoo and an impressive domed conservatory.
Tapada das Necessidades
An extensive area of parkland extends behind the Palácio Real das Necessidades. The Tapada das Necessidades, earlier used for hunting, can be visited on weekdays.
Pessoa House
In Campo de Ourique - one of Lisbon's most popular quarters in the early 20th C. - the final residence of Fernando Passoa is open to visitors. The house, in which Pessoa lived from 1920 until his
death in 1935, was extensively restored in 1993 and converted to a modern library. Only the facade and the room in which Pessoa lived are still as they were during his time here.
The Casa Pessoa houses a comprehensive collection of books of modern verse as well as works by Pessoa and literature about him and his work. Also on display are some of his personal belongings and his bookcase, the only item of furniture which he took with him each time he moved house - Pessoa lived in more than thirty different houses in Lisbon.
One of the highlights is a portrait of Pessoa painted by his friend Almada Negreiros in 1954; a similar picture hangs in the Centro de Arte Moderna.
Pessoa's living room is on the first floor. From time to time artists are invited to arrange it as they think it would have looked during Pessoa's lifetime.
On the second and third floors are offices, reading rooms and exhibition rooms. Note also the passage leading through the house to the inner courtyard with its pretty cafeteria. The walls are decorated with drawings, poems and, above all, horoscopes. Pessoa was a fanatical astrologer and produced a horoscope for each character who figured in his poems. One of the poems displayed was written by Pessoa to his mother when he was seven years old.
Star Basilica - Marble Statues and Christmas Crib
Of note are the various marble statues both inside and outside the basilica, which come from the famous sculpting school at Mafra. The work of its leader, Machado de Castro, includes the figures of
Mary and Joseph standing to the left and the right of the entrance hall and a Christmas crib with more than 500 figures (it is located in a sideroom which will be opened to interested visitors). Machedo de Castro also decorated the sacristy.
Print this page
Add to Favorites
