{"id":174,"date":"2013-06-13T19:54:50","date_gmt":"2013-06-13T19:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisbonstopover.com\/?p=174"},"modified":"2013-06-13T19:56:07","modified_gmt":"2013-06-13T19:56:07","slug":"the-triumphal-arch-at-commerce-square-1875","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/?p=174","title":{"rendered":"The Triumphal Arch at Commerce Square, 1875"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"arch_commerce_square\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Urban development of the banks of the Tagus\u00a0river (the\u00a0Ribeira<\/i>) was given a definitive impulse in the early 16th century, when\u00a0King Manuel I\u00a0built a new royal residence \u2013 the\u00a0Ribeira Palace\u00a0\u2013 by the river, outside the city walls. The area was further developed with the building of a port, ship building facilities (the\u00a0Ribeira das Naus<\/i>), the Casa da \u00cdndia\u00a0and other administrative buildings that regulated the commerce between\u00a0Portugal\u00a0and other parts ofEurope\u00a0and its colonies in\u00a0Africa,\u00a0Asia\u00a0and\u00a0America.<\/p>\n

On 1 November 1755, during the reign of\u00a0King Dom Jos\u00e9 I, a\u00a0great earthquake followed by a\u00a0tsunami\u00a0and fire destroyed most of Lisbon, including the Ribeira Palace and other buildings by the river. Jos\u00e9 I’s Prime Minister, the\u00a0Marquis of Pombal, coordinated a massive rebuilding effort of Portuguese architect Eug\u00e9nio dos Santos. He designed a large, rectangular square in the shape of a “U”, open towards the Tagus. The buildings have galleries on their groundfloors, and the arms of the “U” end in two large towers, reminiscent of the monumental tower of the destroyed Ribeira Palace, still vivid in the architectonic memory of the city. His plan was realised almost completely, although decorative details were changed and the east tower of the square and the Augusta Street Arch were only finished in the 19th century.<\/p>\n

The square was named\u00a0Pra\u00e7a do Com\u00e9rcio<\/b>, the Square of Commerce, to indicate its new function in the economy of Lisbon. The symmetrical buildings of the square were filled with government bureaus that regulated customs and port activities. The main piece of the ensemble was the equestrian statue of King Jos\u00e9 I, inaugurated in 1775 in the centre of the square. This bronze statue, the first monumental statue dedicated to a King in Lisbon, was designed by\u00a0Joaquim Machado de Castro, Portugal’s foremost sculptor of the time.<\/p>\n

\"EstatuaDJoseIemLisboa\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Opening towards the Augusta Street, which links the square with the other traditional Lisbon square, the\u00a0Rossio, the original project by Eug\u00e9nio dos Santos planned a triumphal arch, only realised in 1875. This arch, usually called the Arco da Rua Augusta, was designed by\u00a0Ver\u00edssimo da Costa<\/i>. It has a clock and statues of the Glory, Ingenuity and Valour (by the\u00a0French\u00a0sculptor\u00a0Camels<\/i>) and those ofViriatus,\u00a0Nuno \u00c1lvares Pereira,\u00a0Vasco da Gama\u00a0and, of course, the Marquis of Pombal.<\/p>\n

On 1 February 1908, the square was the scene of the assassination of\u00a0Carlos I, the penultimate King of Portugal. On their way back from the palace of\u00a0Vila Vi\u00e7osa\u00a0to the royal palace in Lisbon, the carriage with Carlos I and his family passed through the Terreiro do Pa\u00e7o. While crossing the square, shots were fired from the crowd by at least two men:\u00a0Alfredo Lu\u00eds da Costa\u00a0and\u00a0Manuel Bui\u00e7a. The king died immediately, his heir Lu\u00eds Filipe was mortally wounded, and Prince Manuel was hit in the arm. The assassins were shot on the spot by members of the bodyguard and later recognized as members of the Republican Party \u2013 which two years later\u00a0overthrew the Portuguese monarchy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Urban development of the banks of the Tagus\u00a0river (the\u00a0Ribeira) was given a definitive impulse in the early 16th century, when\u00a0King Manuel I\u00a0built a new royal residence \u2013 the\u00a0Ribeira Palace\u00a0\u2013 by the river, outside the city walls. The area was further developed with the building of a port, ship building facilities (the\u00a0Ribeira das Naus), the Casa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=174"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174\/revisions\/176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisbonstopover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}