Lisbon Architecture: 15 Famous Buildings
Lisbon architecture from Manueline to modern: Jerónimos, Belém Tower, the Pombaline Baixa, Rossio station, Oriente, the bridges and MAAT.
April 15, 2020 • 8 min read
Top 10 Architectural Monuments in Lisbon, Portugal
Lisbon's Architecture at a Glance
Medieval Lisbon
1. Lisbon Cathedral (Sé)
Begun in 1147, soon after the city was taken from the Moors, the Sé is the oldest church in Lisbon. Its fortress-like front with two towers is Romanesque, while the cloister is Gothic and the main chapel was rebuilt in the 18th century after the 1755 earthquake destroyed the original. It is a good place to see how Lisbon's buildings were repaired and added to over the centuries.
2. Carmo Convent
The convent was founded in 1389, and its Gothic church lost its roof in the 1755 earthquake. It was never rebuilt, so its pointed arches now stand open to the sky above Chiado. The ruins house the Carmo Archaeological Museum.
Manueline: The Age of Discovery
The Manueline style developed during the reign of King Manuel I (1495 to 1521), when Portuguese ships were reaching Africa, India and Brazil. It decorates late Gothic buildings with maritime motifs: twisted ropes, anchors, shells, seaweed and the armillary sphere, the navigational instrument that was the king's emblem.
3. Jerónimos Monastery
The masterpiece of the Manueline style, with a carved south portal, a church with slender columns shaped like palm trees and a two-story cloister covered in stone ornament. Together with Belém Tower, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983.
4. Belém Tower
Built on the river to guard the entrance to Lisbon's harbor, the tower is decorated with rope carvings, armillary spheres and stone watchtowers. Its small size and narrow stairs make the outside, especially at sunset, the best way to appreciate it.
5. Portal of Conceição Velha
In the Baixa, the Manueline doorway of the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição Velha survived the 1755 earthquake. It is one of the few Manueline pieces left in the downtown area, and easy to miss if you do not look for it.
After the 1755 Earthquake: Pombaline Lisbon
The earthquake, tsunami and fires of November 1, 1755 destroyed much of central Lisbon. Under the Marquis of Pombal, the Baixa was cleared and rebuilt on a regular grid of streets, with matching facades and a new building method.
6. The Baixa and its anti-seismic cage
Many Baixa buildings are built around the gaiola pombalina, or Pombaline cage: an internal timber frame with masonry infill. The flexible wood resists the forces of an earthquake, while the masonry protects against fire. It was developed in Portugal after 1755, when the earthquake showed that ordinary masonry could not withstand a major quake.
7. Praça do Comércio and the Rua Augusta Arch
The great riverside square of the rebuilt city, with yellow arcaded buildings on three sides, opens onto the river on the fourth. Its triumphal arch leads into Rua Augusta, and you can climb to the top for a view over the Pombaline grid.
Baroque and Neoclassical Lisbon
8. Monastery of São Vicente de Fora
On the eastern edge of Alfama, this monastery is known for its tile-lined cloisters and corridors, one of the largest displays of azulejos in the city, and for the views from its roof.
9. National Pantheon
Originally the Church of Santa Engrácia, the National Pantheon has a white dome that is one of the landmarks of Lisbon's skyline. Today it holds the tombs of some of Portugal's most important figures, and its terrace looks over the river.
19th-Century Revival and Iron
10. Rossio Station
Lisbon's most decorative railway station was designed by José Luís Monteiro and opened in 1891. Its Neo-Manueline facade, with two intertwined horseshoe-shaped entrances and a clock turret, revives the style of the Age of Discovery. Trains to Sintra still leave from here, through a tunnel of almost 3 km.
11. Santa Justa Lift
This 45-meter iron lift, designed by Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard and in service since 1902, connects the Baixa with Largo do Carmo. Its decorated ironwork and lookout at the top make it both a piece of engineering and a viewpoint.
20th-Century Engineering
12. 25 de Abril Bridge
Opened in 1966 as the Salazar Bridge and renamed after the 1974 revolution, this suspension bridge has a main span of about 1 km. It is painted the same International Orange as San Francisco's Golden Gate, and since 1999 a lower deck has carried trains across the river. See it from Belém, the LX Factory area or the Cristo Rei on the south bank.
Expo '98 and Contemporary Lisbon
For the Expo '98 world's fair, Lisbon transformed a former industrial riverside in the east of the city into Parque das Nações, with some of its most striking modern buildings.
13. Oriente Station and the Vasco da Gama Bridge
Designed by Santiago Calatrava and opened in May 1998, Oriente station is known for its lattice of glass and steel above the platforms, which many visitors compare to a forest of trees. Nearby, the Vasco da Gama Bridge, opened in March 1998, is the longest bridge in the European Union.
14. Portugal Pavilion
Álvaro Siza's pavilion for Expo '98 covers a large ceremonial square with a thin, curved concrete canopy, inspired by the idea of a sheet of paper resting on two bricks. It now belongs to the University of Lisbon.
15. Champalimaud Centre and MAAT
Along the river near Belém, two buildings show Lisbon's 21st-century architecture. The Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, by the Indian architect Charles Correa, opened in 2010 where the Tagus meets the Atlantic. The MAAT, the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, by Amanda Levete, opened in 2016 next to the old Tejo Power Station, a landmark of industrial architecture that is now part of the museum.
