Cordoaria Nacional:Former rope-making factory in Lisbon, now an exhibition centre The ''Cordoaria Nacional'' was a former naval rope-making factory in

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará) often called Belém of Pará, is a Brazilian city, capital and largest city of the state of Pará in t ...

Lisbon District Lisbon District ( pt, Distrito de Lisboa, ) is a district located along the western coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Lisbon, which is also the national capital. From its creation until 1926, it included the area of the cur ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. It now functions as an exhibition centre.

History

The building of the factory, created by an order of the

Marquis of Pombal Count of Oeiras () was a Portuguese title of nobility created by a royal decree, dated July 15, 1759, by King Joseph I of Portugal, and granted to Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, head of the Portuguese government. Later, through another roy ...

made in 1771, was completed in 1779, probably to the design of the architect Reinaldo Manuel dos Santos. However, rope making was believed to have been started at this location in 1775 in the open air. The building, which extends parallel to the

River Tagus The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally west with two main south-westward sections, to e ...

, was intended for the production of sisal ropes, cables, sails and other equipment for the

Portuguese Navy The Portuguese Navy ( pt, Marinha Portuguesa, also known as ''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'' or as ''Armada Portuguesa'') is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Port ...

and other ships. Architecturally it is practically devoid of decoration but it is still considered as an outstanding example of eighteenth century industrial architecture. Its location, next to the river, facilitated supply to vessels based in or visiting

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. The factory consisted of two parallel buildings of 353.30 meters, the length being necessitated by the rope production process. The building to the south was used for the twisting of ropes to make different types of cables, while that to the north was used for spinning of linen, among other activities. All work was undertaken by hand, with the assistance of hand-operated machines. Workers included blind people, war veterans and even prisoners. The building has been subject to several changes as a result of fires in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and the restructuring necessary to convert it to a museum, as well as by the opening of a road and railway between it and the river, It ceased to function as a factory only in 1998 and is now used as a space for rotating exhibitions.

References

Buildings and structures in Lisbon Industrial buildings in Portugal National monuments in Lisbon District {{architecture-stub