An Unforgettable Father-Daughter Trip to Portugal (Part 20): Igreja de São Domingos & The Lisbon Massacre
In the latest post from my three week father/daughter trip to Portugal back in December 2022-January 2023, we return to our final stop, Lisbon (where our journey actually began) and explore the decadent Igreja de São Roque, the medieval Convento do Carmo, and one of Lisbon’s most iconic structures, the Santa Justa Lift.
We also pay a visit to the Igreja de São Domingos, home to one of the darkest episodes in Lisbon’s history – the Lisbon Massacre of 1506.
So here’s PART II of a series of photographs from our return to Lisbon (Check out PART I HERE) as we explore the Baixa and Chiado districts, two distinct (and adjacent) neighborhoods within Lisbon’s city center and a short walk from our hotel in the Alfama district.
Igreja de São Roque
Dedicated to Roque de Montpellier, a saint of the Roman-catholic church, the Church of São Roque was built by the Jesuits between 1553 and 1573 and is one of the first Jesuit churches in the world. The rather unremarkable façade of the Igreja de São Roque (in accordance with Jesuit preferences) has one of the city’s most remarkable interiors. The church was also one of the rare buildings in Lisbon to survive the 1755 Earthquake relatively unscathed.
The Church´s design is the work of Italian architect and engineer Filipe Terzi. Terzi was also master of work at two other attractions we visited during our Portugal excursion, the Convento de Cristo in Tomar in 1584 and the Church and Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in 1590.
The interior comprises a nave and eight side chapels, the decoration of which took place between the second half of the 16th century and the first half of the 18th century.
The lavish Chapel of St. John the Baptist is often described as the “world’s most expensive”. It was ordered from Rome by the Portuguese king in 1742 and took five years to complete. It’s made up of gold, ivory, lapis lazuli and agate, and what look like paintings are actually mosaics. It was blessed by the Pope Benedict XIV and shipped to Lisbon in 1747.
Other chapels are decorated with polychrome marble and remarkable works of gilded woodcarving, most notably the gold-covered Chapel of Our Lady of Doctrine (above) which also features woodwork by master carver José Rodrigues Ramalho (1660–1721).
The Chapel of St. Roch, which features what’s been considered the world’s 16th-century tile art masterpiece. Completed in 1584 by the master Francisco de Matos, it stands out for the quality of the paintings on a yellow background.
Built in 1784, the organ was one of the first instruments to come out of the workshop of the famous organ maker, António Xavier Machado e Cerveira (1756-1828). Originally located in the church of the Convent of São Pedro de Alcântara (also in Lisbon), it was transferred to the high choir of the Church of São Roque in 1844.
Convento do Carmo (Museu Arqueológico do Carmo)
The ruined Convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (a short 8 minute walk from the Igreja de São Roque) stands as a reminder of the devastating earthquake of 1755 that destroyed most of the city. Its roof collapsed on the congregation as it was attending mass on All Saints’ Day(!) and was never rebuilt, but the Gothic arches still stand. Most of the architecture dates back to the 1300s, but Manueline (Portuguese Gothic) windows and other details were added in the 16th and 18th centuries.
The sacristy’s small archaeological museum presents an eclectic collection that was donated by archaeologists in the 19th century. It consists of fragments of architecture and sculpture, funerary monuments of great sculptural importance, tile panels, weapons, and many other objects of historical, artistic and archaeological interest.
The highlight of the museum? Two mummified children, a boy and girl from Peru, from the Chancay culture (c. 1000-c.1500 CE) dating from the 16th century. Why they ended up in Lisbon is anybody’s guess…
Elevador de Santa Justa
One of the truly unique tourist attractions in all of Lisbon is the Elevador de Santa Justa (Santa Justa Lift), just about a three minute walk from the Convento do Carmo. The elegant Neo-Gothic iron tower was designed by Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard, a Portuguese engineer of French parentage (and disciple of Gustave Eiffel) known for building many elevators and funiculars in Portugal. This century-old iron tower (inaugurated in 1901) is an elevator that links downtown to the Chiado district up on the hill, which is accessed through a walkway at the top.
CLICK IMAGE ABOVE TO WATCH VIDEO
Although it was built for public transportation, it’s now mostly used by tourists. It’s 148 feet high and boasts some of the best views over the center of Lisbon. We didn’t get on it due to a rather long line of people waiting to ride up, but I pulled out my iPhone 13 Pro and took a short video that illustrates the operation of the lift. [WATCH IT HERE]
Igreja de São Domingos & the Lisbon Massacre
The Igreja de São Domingos (Church of St. Dominic) was dedicated in 1241 and was, at one time, the largest church in Lisbon. It resides in the Baixa district, a stone’s throw west of Alfama in central Lisbon (“Downtown”). The church was damaged by the 1531 Lisbon earthquake and almost completely destroyed in the 1755 earthquake. Rebuilding began quickly but wasn’t completed until 1807.
Worthy of note is the high altar, with red marble columns that support the sculptural composition of the Holy Trinity.
In 1959 the church was devastated once more when a fire broke out in the building. The fire, which killed two firefighters, took more than six hours to extinguish and completely gutted the church, destroying many important paintings and statues. In 1994 the church reopened. The interior, however, still shows the damage done by the fire.
In its heyday, some of the most important royal weddings and christenings were celebrated here, but it was also from this church that the people, condemned to death by the Inquisition, left to be burned at the stake in the public square. It was also the scene of one of the darkest episodes in the history of Lisbon: a three-day massacre where thousands of people accused of being Jews were persecuted, tortured and killed. The Lisbon Massacre.
The Lisbon Massacre began in the Church of São Domingos on Sunday, April 19, 1506. The faithful were praying for the end of the drought, hunger and plague that ravaged Portugal at the time. One believer claimed to have had a vision of Christ, a miracle as interpreted by other Catholics. When a “New Christian” (Portuguese Jews forced to convert to Christianity by King Manuel I in 1497) tried to explain the “miracle” as a light reflection, the crowd became incensed.
The New Christian was beaten to death and the mob then spilled out of the church and began killing any New Christians they came across. They built a pyre on the church square and threw the bodies of their victims into the fire(!). Violence spread throughout the city. New Christians, regardless of age or sex, were murdered and their homes looted.
The rampage continued until Thursday, when a religious procession calling for peace marched through the city and restored order. Reports of the numbers killed vary from less than 1,000 to more than 4,000. Most were New Christians but some Old Christians were also murdered.
When King Manuel I was informed of events in Lisbon, he ordered the governor to hurry to the city and “hang all the evil doers responsible for the massacre.” Participants in the massacre were summarily executed without trial. Approximately 500 rioters were executed.
Inaugurated as part of the 500th anniversary of the event, a Memorial to the Victims of the 1506 Massacre is located on the site where it took place, in the square in front of the Igreja de São Domingos. Moreover, the Jewish community of Porto has released the trailer for a full-length historical film about the Lisbon Massacre.
The premiere of the film “1506”, which will be available for free viewing in a variety of languages and platforms, takes place on April 19, 2024 – exactly 518 years since that horrific event occurred.
Public debates are planned to accompany the release of the movie in April and May in Miami, New York, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris, Marseille, Brussels, Porto and Lisbon.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
If you’ve been following this series of photographs from my three week father/daughter trip to Portugal from back in December 2022 – January 2023, you’ll remember that our journey actually began in Lisbon when we arrived in Portugal on December 14th.
We spent our first couple of days in the western Belém district of Lisbon before driving about 45 minutes NW to the city of Sintra. And that’s where the first two weeks of our journey really got started.
We then drove about 40 minutes north, stopping at the majestic Palácio de Mafra before continuing north to the Alcobaça Monastery, up to the city of Coimbra, a 90 minute drive up to the “Second City” of Porto, then north again to the city of Braga. We continued north, crossing the border into Galicia, Spain to spend Christmas with “miña familia galega”.
We then started our journey south, back into Portugal, stopping at the charming city of Guimarães, (The “Birthplace of Portugal”), the Dominican Monastery of Batalha, the medieval Convent of Christ (and Castle) in the city of Tomar before taking about a 90 minute drive back to where this whole journey started (and where it would end), Lisbon.
My next post will feature an assortment of street photographs from around Lisbon. SUBSCRIBE HERE to not miss it…
Photographs taken with the Sony a7RIII using the Sony FE 24–105mm F/4, Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8, Samyang 14mm f/2.8, Samyang 35mm f/1.4 lenses and a few using the iPhone 13 Pro
