Igreja da Memória

Lisbon Churches: Igreja da Memória

The Igreja da Memória (Nossa Senhora do Livramento & São José Church) is a Baroque church in the Ajuda and Belem district of western Lisbon.

The church's construction dates from the 1760's but was not finished until 1788.

Igreja da Memória, Belem, Lisbon. — Igreja da Memória, Belem, Lisbon

History

The Igreja da Memória was founded by King José I to give thanks for escaping an assassination attempt in 1758 in what was to become known as the Távora Affair.

The king was returning from a romantic encounter with his mistress (Teresa Leonor, wife of Luis Bernardo, heir of the aristocratic Távora family) when the unmarked carriage he was traveling in was attacked and Dom José was shot and wounded in the arm.

The church is located close to the site of the attempt assassination and hence its name.

The incident gave the king's chief minister, the Marquis de Pombal the opportunity or indeed a pre-planned pretext to ruthlessly suppress any opposition to his position as the de facto supremo and dictator of the country.

In 1759 the members of the Távora family (political opponents of Pombal) were grimly tortured and executed in front of the king including his former mistress. Their deaths are commemorated by a pillar at Beco do Chão Salgado, next to Rua de Belém.

Architecture

The church's architect was the Italian Giovanni Carlo Galli da Bibbiena (1717-1760) who had a hand in several buildings in Lisbon including the Paço da Ribeira and the Ópera do Tejo, grand buildings both destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake.

After Bibbiena's death in 1760, work did not continue until 1779 under the Portuguese architect Mateus Vicente de Oliveira who was responsible for the upper floor of the church and the dome.

Oliveira had previously worked on the National Palace of Mafra and was the chief architect of the Queluz National Palace. He also created the initial plan for the Basilica da Estrela, which resembles somewhat the Igreja da Memória.

The church consists of a single nave, a chancel and a transept. The marble interior is simple in style, reflecting the Pombaline aesthetics of the time. The interior contains paintings by the artist with paintings by Pedro Alexandrino de Carvalho.

Importantly, the church serves as the mausoleum for the Marquês de Pombal (Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo), who has been buried there since 1923.

Access

Igreja da Memória
Calçada da Memória 18
Lisbon
Tel: 21 361 4660

To get to Belém take any of Lisbon buses: #714, #727, #728, #729 or #751.

Tram: #15 from Cais do Sodre; From Cascais or Cais do Sodre on the Cascais Line (Linha de Cascais) get out at Belém station.

Ferry: From Porto Brandaõ on the south side of the River Tagus to Estação Fluvial de Belém or take the Linha Cascais train from Cais do Sodre to Belém Station.