History
Before becoming a single civil parish, this territory partly lay beyond medieval Lisbon’s walls. Here, in 1147, D. Afonso Henriques founded Mosteiro de São Vicente de Fora; the phrase “de Fora” recalls its position outside the walled city. Rua das Escolas Gerais still preserves, in its name, the memory of the medieval Estudo Geral, forerunner of the Portuguese university.
Closer to the Tejo, Santa Engrácia became its own parish in 1568. Its first church began in the 16th century, while the Baroque building visible today was begun in 1682 to a design by João Antunes. It became Panteão Nacional in 1966. At Campo de Santa Clara, Feira da Ladra settled in 1882, giving the square a regular transformation still felt on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
At the start of the 20th century, Vila Berta introduced a housing ensemble designed for residents from different social backgrounds. In 2012, administrative reorganisation brought Graça, Santa Engrácia and São Vicente de Fora together in today’s civil parish of São Vicente: a landscape where cobbled lanes, stairs and sloping streets still connect markedly different histories.