Why would someone from the southern USA who grew up in a non-religious family decide to write a guide about Catholicism in Lisbon? A good question that begs to be answered…
Situated far from the Metro & tourist crowds, the Palácio dos Marqueses de Fronteira has to be one of the best-kept secrets of Lisbon. Heck, it’s taken me 20 years to get around to visit it! Built in the 1670s, this hunting estate survived the 1755 earthquake & became the main residence of the Mascarenhas family since then…
Browsing through digitized period magazines on the Biblioteca Nacional website the other day, I stumbled across several photos of the Portugal pavilion under construction. A February 1929 edition of O Notícias Ilustrado highlighted artist Mário Reis with his portrait & the azulejos he made for the pavilion. I froze because I recognized those tiles… they’re now on the Chafariz da Junqueira!
Twenty years ago today, Lisboa opened a specialized World’s Fair that completely altered the city’s landscape. Local government reclaimed an abandoned industrial zone to make way for pavilions, new housing, a new Metro line, a multi-modal train station & a second bridge across the Tejo River. Lisbon would never be the same.
I practically grew up in our local branch of the public library in Memphis. I think my mom figured out it was free child care, & I could spend hours going through the stacks without ever noticing the time. So when I heard the Lisbon city government spent 2.5 million € to fix up this public library, I couldn’t wait to check it out.