From the Romans to the novel
Like many Portuguese cities, Lisbon was built on ancient Roman foundations, some of which can be seen in the basement of the Fundação Millennium, or in the galleries of Rua da Prata. On the other hand, the capital has much more traces of the Moorish presence. First of all, in the Alfama district, a name derived from the Arabic al-hamma meaning bath or fountain. In its center, the São Jorge castle dominates the city from the top of its hill. In spite of its defensive role, it is still majestic and impressive with its 11-tower ramparts. The Moors built it in the 11th century to control the city. Today reigns in this district an atmosphere similar to that of the kasbahs, these old Berber citadels. In the 12th century, the Portuguese began their campaign of reconquest and, to establish the power of Christianity over the Moors, the city was given a cathedral, the Sé Patriarcal, a superb Romanesque building whose large central nave, barrel vault and cloister with its rose windows are noteworthy.
Gothic and Manueline style
Thanks to new techniques - pointed arches, cross-ribs, buttresses and lateral buttresses - the Gothic style allowed the construction of lighter, taller and brighter buildings. It was at this time that the cathedral was transformed by the addition of a new cloister. Although the city bears few signs of the early Gothic style, it does contain masterpieces of Manueline art that many people refer to as late Gothic. The term Manueline, which appeared in the 19th century, refers to a style that developed in the 15th and 16th centuries, particularly during the reign of Manuel I. At that time, the kingdom was at its political and economic peak and, thanks to the great discoveries, was nourished by influences from all over the world. This prosperity was reflected in a style of abundant decoration that combined Moorish, medieval and Christian motifs, and evocations of the sea and nature. In Lisbon, its two most beautiful representatives are Francisco Arruba's Torre de Belém, elegant despite its defensive role and largely inspired by Arab architecture, including that of the Koutoubia mosque in Marrakech, and of course the superb Mosteiro dos Jerónimos by the French architect Boytac, with its lacy stonework, its columns of vine leaves and marine knots and its arcades reminiscent of Arab moucharabiehs, allowing you to see without being seen, a harmonious synthesis of this deeply Portuguese style.
From the Renaissance to the Baroque
Of the first Renaissance and its search for a classical ideal of harmony and perfection of lines and proportions, no great witness in Lisbon. But there are many examples of the Mannerist form of this Renaissance, a style that preserves the classical codes, but breaks with the ideal of harmony to favor changing and shifting forms. The church of São Vicente de Fora, with its elaborate facade, was designed by the Tuscan architect Filippo Terzi. Another great Mannerist was Afonso Ávares, who designed the Church of São Roque, a sort of large rectangular hall strongly inspired by the Jesuits, who were fighting against the Protestant Reformation, and who sought to edify and educate believers through buildings that were as impressive as they were pragmatic, where everything had to be done to attract the faithful's gaze to the priest. At the beginning of the 18th century, the kingdom had gained its independence from Spain, the Inquisition was retreating, and gold and precious stones from Brazil were flowing in. To this new period of opulence corresponds a wave of movement and architectural theatricality: it is the advent of the baroque, which takes its name from the Portuguese word barroco, designating a pearl of irregular shape. Undulations, plays of light and shadow, optical illusions and alternation of convex and concave forms, overabundance of decoration which finds its apogee with the talha dourada, a technique of carving on wood gilded with leaf...: the baroque surprises and detonates. Among the great Baroque achievements in Lisbon, one can admire the National Palace of Mafra, the work of the German Ludwig and the Hungarian Mardel, which impresses with its sober 200-meter long facade that contrasts with the opulence of its interior decoration, or the Basílica da Estrela, the last great church of its kind.
It was also during this period that the city acquired a fascinating and astonishing work: the Aqueduct of the Free Waters, which took more than 100 years to build. Thanks to it, drinking water could be brought into the city. It has a total of 127 arches and stretches for almost 18 km, but its most remarkable part is the one that spans the Alcantara valley with its flight of 35 arches, the highest of which rises to over 60 m.
From drama to reconstruction
The eighteenth century in Lisbon was marked by the terrible earthquake of 1755 that devastated much of the city. Sebastião José de Carvahlo, Marquis of Pombal, then Prime Minister, was entrusted by the king with the task of rebuilding the city. Layman, liberal and deeply imbued with the ideals of the Enlightenment, the Marquis proposed a functional and rational approach to architecture and urban planning. He abandoned the unhealthy and dangerous maze of alleys in favor of wide avenues laid out according to an orthogonal plan; as for the buildings, they were all identical and their lack of decorative excess, even though rococo was in full swing, prefigured the canons of neoclassicism that were very much in vogue in the following century: this is what is known as the Pombalin style. The Baixa district was entirely rebuilt according to this plan, culminating in the Praça do Comercio, framed on three sides by neoclassical arcades, with refined colonnades and an impressive triumphal arch. Pombal surrounded himself with military engineers and architects in order to ensure the resistance of the new buildings to possible new earthquakes, and above all he launched the standardization of materials to build faster and at lower cost. Thus, in 1767, the Royal Factory of Earthenware was created, which allowed for the large-scale production of earthenware tiles(azulejos) with simplified motifs. Pombal was also responsible for the paving of the streets, the precursor of a practice that would reach its peak in the 19th century: calçada portuguesa, or the art of assembling white limestone and black basalt stones to form patterns inspired by the history and riches of the country. Great examples can be seen in the Rossio and Chiado neighborhoods.
From romanticism to dictatorship
During the 19th century, the country experienced many troubles that shook up its identity. Eager to rediscover their roots, the aristocracy and bourgeoisie favored revivalismo, a kind of romantic and idealized vision of the national past, tinged with foreign influences, especially oriental, gleaned by Portuguese artists-travelers. This was the advent of neo-styles such as the Rossio Station with its horseshoe-shaped doors typical of the neo-Moorish style, or the Teatro Nacional Dona Maria II with its neo-classical peristyle façade reminiscent of Greco-Roman temples. Engineers also contributed to the development of metal architecture with masterpieces of civil engineering such as the Santa Justa urban elevator, the only example of an elevator linking the city's neighborhoods. In the following century, Portugal was under the yoke of Salazar and his military dictatorship, called Estado Novo, which used architecture as a propaganda weapon. The first achievements will be tinged with neoclassicism, also borrowing much from Art Deco and Bauhaus. In 1940, Salazar organized an Exhibition of the Portuguese World, where traditional popular decorations were mixed with modern architecture, and the imposing Padrão dos Descobrimentos still bears the mark. Then, gradually, a monumental style was established, of which the statue of Cristo Rei is the most astonishing witness. Salazar also intervened in the city's urban fabric and expanded it to the north, mixing the influences of the Lombard style with those of the modernist currents of the time and endowed Lisbon with its Ponte 25 de Abril (formerly Ponte Salazar), which impresses by its dimensions: 2,278 m long with a deck suspended 70 m high supported by two pylons rising 190 m.
Contemporary Lisbon
The 1980s were a turning point in the history of the city's architecture. In 1988, the Chiado district was ravaged by a terrible fire and the city lost some of its symbols such as the Grandella department store or the Ferrari tea room. The vibrant heart of the city stopped beating. The reconstruction of the neighborhood raises questions about the place to be given to heritage, which will become the central theme of the 1989 municipal campaign. While the people of Lisbon were still struggling to appreciate the office towers of the Amoreiras district, designed by architect Tomás Taveira, all eyes were on Chiado. It is under the pencil strokes of the master Alvaro Siza Vieira that the neighborhood will be reborn. The architect, particularly attached to the city's heritage, decided to save the facades or to reconstitute them identically, bringing modernity only inside. Some will criticize the lack of audacity, but this vision, concerned with establishing a link between the past and the present, will earn its instigator the Pritzker Prize. Another major turning point for the city was the 1998 World Fair. The main idea of the project's organizers was not to give in to the temptation of the ephemeral and to undertake instead a vast project to reclaim the city. It is an area in the east of the city, on the banks of the Tagus, which was chosen. This former industrial site, until then neglected, was to become a dynamic urban center. Siza built the Pavilion of Portugal, which astonishes with its superb and flexible concrete canopy. For the occasion, the city was given a new bridge, the gigantic Vasco de Gama Bridge, which, like a caravel, launches its 192 stays towards the horizon. Santiaga Calatrava designed the magnificent Oriente station, whose slender white columns form an oasis of palm trees. And Peter Chermayeff imagines the Oceanario, built on an enclosed stretch of water and connected to the reception area by a bridge, it takes on the appearance of an island and a boat ready to sail, and carries the message of Expo 98: Let's save and protect our oceans. The Parc des Nations, the name given to this space transformed for the Expo, is still today at the heart of the city's transformation projects, which are developing non-polluting mobility projects. Other notable recent projects include the Museu Nacional dos Coches, inaugurated in 2015 and designed by another Pritzker winner, Brazilian Paulo Mendes da Rocha, and the Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia, designed by British architect Amanda Levete, which impresses with its emphasis on industrial heritage (the museum includes a former power plant) and its architectural innovations, such as the undulating roof on which visitors can walk. Recently, Lisbon hosted the annual forum of the World Tourism Organization, which focused on how to reconcile economic growth, social inclusion and environmental sustainability. Further proof of the capital's commitment to rethinking the city in harmony with its inhabitants, its heritage and the environment.
The capital of design
Lisbon has become one of the great European cities of design. In 2009, the city opened its Museu do Design e da Moda, where the country's greatest designers are exhibited, including the famous Antonio Garcia and his humanistic design, and Eduardo Afonso Dias, whose mass-produced kitchen utensils made his name. The themes of the exhibitions - "How to pronounce design in Portuguese" and "Portuguese design, the forms of an identity" - show how design is considered an essential component of the identity of the city and the country in general. It must be said that Portuguese design has a long tradition of craftsmanship and industrial know-how. For a long time, international designers came to have their objects made by its master ceramists, glassmakers or cabinetmakers, thus popularizing the made in Portugal. Then gradually a new generation of designers appeared, eager to rethink with modernity the codes of this traditional craft. In Lisbon, you can take the pulse of this young creative scene at the LX Factory, a former industrial wasteland converted into a temple of design. Every year in the fall, the city also organizes a large international design fair. And especially during your visit, open your eyes wide, you will surely see the rounded shapes of the mythical Gonçalo chair at the terrace of a café, or the painted metal insects, the best-seller of the Mambo Factory brand, which offers a fresh, acidic and sophisticated design. Finally, if we had to remember one name, it could be that of the artist Joana Vasconcelos who works in close collaboration with designers and craftsmen to create colorful, lively and... unclassifiable works!
