Lisboa - 3

Very near our hotel is a church, Igreja do São Domingos, which was severely damaged in the earthquake of 1755, restored and then damaged by fire I think in 1959. After the fire very little restoration was done, presumably as a reminder of the event. The photo here is the front of the church, distinguishable by the cross at the top.

This photo is the inside - not a very clear photo as it was quite dark in the church and no flash photos were allowed. In any case the effects of the fire on the pillars are quite obvious. The church still functions as a church so I was required to remove my hat and be silent.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we went to the National Tile Museum. A very impressive and beautiful place with lots of information about "Azulejos", decorated ceramic tiles. These decorative tiles have been produced for hundreds of years - the Moors apparently adopted them from the Phoenicians and passed the methods on to the Portuguese, who have modified them in their own way. A couple of samples here of the amazing array of patterns displayed in the museum and in use all over Portugal.

This is a panorama, in tiles, of Lisboa before the earthquake of 1755. Hopefully you can appreciate the size of this presentation if not the content.

I also mentioned that we were going to Belém to the Carriage Museum. This is another fascinating place with a large collection of ornate carriages used by various kings, queens, princesses and highly placed members of the clergy, going back to at least the 17th century. This photo is an attempt to capture the main display area, although there are a couple of other display areas as well. When you get beyond the all the decorations it is interesting to look at the complicated leather belt support construction designed to relieve the bone jolting ride on the iron rimmed wooden wheels on cobblestone.

This carriage was apparently given to or at least used by the Pope sometime in the 18th century. As I think you can appreciate, ornate falls short of describing some of these vehicles.