Penha de França

Before Lisbon expanded, this area was shaped by estates, market gardens, paths and small settlements. In 1598, a chapel dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Penha de França was built here; it became a pilgrimage destination and led to a religious complex enlarged from 1604 onwards. The church inaugurated around 1625 was remodelled in 1754, but both church and convent collapsed in the 1755 earthquake. Their reconstruction, led by Aires da Cunha, was completed in the late eighteenth century. Industrial growth in eastern Lisbon, especially from the second half of the nineteenth century, brought new residents, workers’ courtyards and housing rows. The civil parish was created in 1918; since the 2012 administrative reorganisation, it has brought together the former areas of São João and Penha de França, spanning the hill, Alto de São João and Xabregas within one parish.

At ground level, the complex of Nossa Senhora da Penha de França offers a church, a square, the former convent and a view that can make you pause. Within the former convent buildings, arranged around a cloister, a well was fed by a large cistern. Its water once supplied eastern Lisbon. You can pass through the square without suspecting that this early water system is so close by — and so neatly out of sight.

Igreja e antigo Convento de Nossa Senhora da Penha de França · Largo da Penha de França · Rua da Penha de França · Rua Morais Soares · Praça Paiva Couceiro · Mercado de Sapadores · Rua Barão de Sabrosa · Jardim do Caracol da Penha · Parada do Alto de São João · Cemitério do Alto de São João · Museu Nacional do Azulejo · Igreja da Madre de Deus · Xabregas

Climb to Largo da Penha de França and notice how elevation changes your relationship with the city. · Look for signs, from outside the religious complex, of its successive building and reconstruction phases. · Follow Rua Morais Soares while imagining the former stretch of Estrada de Circunvalação from which it emerged. · Notice the courtyards, workers’ housing rows and enclosed yards that recall the area’s working-class past. · Cross Jardim do Caracol da Penha and watch how the space works with the slope. · Pass through Parada do Alto de São João and observe the entrance to Cemitério do Alto de São João. · Continue towards Xabregas to sense the shift from the residential hill to the former industrial east. · Observe the exterior of Igreja da Madre de Deus and its place within Museu Nacional do Azulejo.