The Rossio is the popular name of the King Pedro IV Square ( pt, Praça de D. Pedro IV) in the city of

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 ...

, in

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 is located in the

Pombaline Downtown The Baixa ''(Downtown)'' (), also known as the Baixa Pombalina (''Pombaline Downtown'') is a neighborhood in the historic center of Lisbon, Portugal. It consists of the grid of streets north of the Praça do Comércio, roughly between the Cais do ...

of Lisbon and has been one of its main squares since the Middle Ages. It has been the setting of popular revolts and celebrations, bullfights and executions, and is now a preferred meeting place of Lisbon natives and tourists alike. The current name of the Rossio pays

homage Homage (Old English) or Hommage (French) may refer to: History *Homage (feudal) /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, the medieval oath of allegiance *Commendation ceremony, medieval homage ceremony Arts *Homage (arts) /oʊˈmɑʒ/, an allusion or imitation by one arti ...

to Pedro IV,

King of Portugal This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Through the n ...

. The

Column of Pedro IV The Column of Pedro IV (Portuguese: Coluna de D. Pedro IV) is a monument to King Peter IV of Portugal and the Algarves, located in the centre of Rossio Square in Lisbon, Portugal. The monument was erected in 1870. History and details King ...

is in the middle of the square.

History and highlights

Origins

The Rossio became an important place in the city during the 13th and 14th centuries, when the population of the city expanded to the lower area surrounding the

Lisbon Castle Saint George's Castle ( pt, Castelo de São Jorge; ) is a historic castle in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, located in the ''freguesia'' of Santa Maria Maior. Human occupation of the castle hill dates to at least the 8th century BC while t ...

hill. The name "rossio" is roughly equivalent to the word "commons" in English, and refers to a commonly owned terrain. Around 1450, the Palace of Estaus, destined to house foreign dignitaries and noblemen visiting Lisbon, was built on the north side of the square. After the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

was installed in Lisbon, the Palace of Estaus became its seat, and the Rossio was frequently used as setting for public executions. The first auto-da-fé took place in 1540. In 1492, King John II ordered the building of one of the most important civil and charitative infrastructures in old Lisbon, the All-Saints Royal Hospital (''

Hospital Real de Todos os Santos The Hospital Real de Todos-os-Santos (''All Saints Royal Hospital'') was a major hospital in Lisbon, Portugal. The hospital was built between 1492 and 1504 and was destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, along with most of the city. It was never f ...

''). The Hospital was finished in 1504, during the reign of

King Manuel I Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate ( pt, O Venturoso), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portugal, as ...

, and occupied the whole eastern side of the square. Old pictures show the façade of the Hospital to consist of a long building with an arched gallery. The portal to the chapel of the Hospital, facing the Rossio, had a magnificent façade in manueline style. Near the northeastern corner of the square, actually in the neighbouring St Domingo Square, is located the Palace of the Almadas, recognisable by its early 18th century red façade. In 1640, this Palace was the meeting point of Portuguese noblemen who conspired against Spain and led to the independence of Portugal from Spanish rule. The building is also called the Palace of the Independence for this reason. The Convent of

St Dominic Saint Dominic ( es, Santo Domingo; 8 August 1170 – 6 August 1221), also known as Dominic de Guzmán (), was a Castilians, Castilian Catholic priest, Mysticism, mystic, the founder of the Dominican Order and is the patron saint of astronomers ...

was established in the 13th century by the Rossio. Their church was greatly damaged by the 1755 earthquake and was rebuilt in baroque style. Its façade dominates the small St Dominic square.

1755 earthquake and rebuilding

Most buildings around the Rossio date from the reconstruction of the

carried out after the great

1755 Lisbon earthquake The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with ...

, which levelled most structures in the area, including the magnificent All-Saints Hospital. Only the Palace of the Independence survived the catastrophic earthquake. The rebuilding of the Rossio was undertaken in the second half of the 18th century by architects

Eugénio dos Santos Eugénio dos Santos de Carvalho (1711–1760) was a Portuguese architect and military engineer, responsible for the planning and rebuilding of Lisbon's Pombaline Lower Town after the 1755 earthquake. Among other buildings he designed the Lisbon Ci ...

and

Carlos Mardel Carlos Mardel (born Martell Károly; Bratislava, Pressburg; c. 1695 - Lisbon; 8 September 1763) was a Hungarian people, Hungarian-Portuguese people, Portuguese military officer, engineer, and architect. Mardel is primarily remembered for his role ...

, responsible for the typical Pombaline appearance of the buildings around the square. From the Pombaline reconstruction dates the Bandeira Arch (''Arco da Bandeira''), a building at the south side of the square with a

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

and a big arch that communicates the Rossio with the Sapateiros Street. The Rossio became linked to the other main square of the city, the Praça do Comércio, by two straight streets: the Áurea and the Augusta Streets. After a fire in 1836, the old Inquisition Palace was destroyed. Thanks to the efforts of writer Almeida Garrett, it was decided to build a theatre in its place. The ''Teatro Nacional D. Maria II'', built in the 1840s, was designed by the Italian ''Fortunato Lodi'' in neoclassical style. A statue of the

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

Portuguese playwright Gil Vicente is located over the

of the theatre. Some of Gil Vicente's plays had been censured by the Inquisition back in the 16th century. In the 19th century the Rossio was paved with typical Portuguese mosaic and was adorned with bronze fountains imported from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The

was erected in 1874. At this time the square received its current official name, never accepted by the people. Between 1886 and 1887 another important landmark was built in the square: the

Rossio Train Station The Rossio Railway Station (; pt, Estação de Caminhos de Ferro do Rossio) is a railway station in Lisbon, Portugal, located in the Rossio square. The station was formerly known as ''Estação Central'' (Central Station) and that designati ...

(''Estação de Caminhos de Ferro do Rossio''). The Station was built by architect ''José Luís Monteiro'' and was an important addition to the infrastructure of the city. Its neo- manueline façade dominates the northwest side of the square.

Significance

The Rossio has been a meeting place for people of Lisbon for centuries. Some of the

cafés A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...

and shops of the square date from the 18th century, like the ''Café Nicola'', where poet Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage used to meet friends. Other traditional shops include the ''Pastelaria Suíça'' (1922–2018) and the ''

Ginjinha Ginjinha or simply Ginja, is a Portuguese liqueur made by infusing ''ginja'' berries (sour cherry, ''Prunus cerasus austera'', the Morello cherry) in alcohol (aguardente) and adding sugar together with other ingredients, with cloves and/or cinn ...

'', where the typical Lisbon spirit (

) can be tasted. The building of the Maria II Theatre and the Public Gardens to the north of the square only made the area more attended by Lisbon high society in the 19th century. Nowadays it is constantly populated by Lisboners and tourists.

References

External links