Archaeological Museum of Carmo in Lisbon must visit Portugal


The Archaeological Museum of Carmo is located in the ruins of the Carmo Convent in the city and district of Lisbon, in Portugal  . D. Nuno Alvares Pereira.

Built on the hill bordering the castle of S. Jorge, for its grandeur and monumentality, rivaled the Cathedral of Lisbon and the Convent of St. Francis of the same city.

From an early age this religious space was considered emblematic of the Lisbon city and its own national identity, because it is associated with the name of one of the most famous Portuguese heroes of the Middle Ages. Having chosen the church of Carmo for its grave, Nuno Álvares Pereira decisively marked the entire history of the Gothic monument. 

The church and convent have received many additions and changes over time, adapting to new tastes and architectural and decorative styles, making it one of the richest and most powerful buildings in Lisbon.

In 1755, the earthquake, which shook the city violently, caused serious damage to the building, aggravated by the subsequent fire that almost completely destroyed its contents. In the year of 1756 began its reconstruction, already in neogothic style, interrupted definitively in 1834, due to the extinction of the Religious Orders in Portugal.

From this period of reconstruction date the pillars and arches of the ships, which are a true testimony of experimental neo-Gothic architecture, of scenographic nature.

In the mid-nineteenth century, with a romantic taste for the ruins and ancient medieval monuments, it was decided not to continue the reconstruction of the building, leaving the body of the nave of the church in the open. Thus is created a magical scenario of ruin, which so pleased the nineteenth century aesthetes and which still enchants our contemporaries. The ruins of Carmel thus became a memorial to the 1755 earthquake. 

  • Archaeological Museum of Carmo in Lisbon must visit Portugal


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