4.1.10 Largo do Carmo

Location HERE.

Quiet square (well, apart from the tourists, that is) just south west of, and above, the Rossio. A quiosque in one corner; restaurants around the sides. But the place in history this place occupies has to do with what happened on the 25th of April 1974. Because it is here that the Estado Novo finally expired.


On that day, Portugal’s last dictator, Prime Minister Marcelo Caetano, and his President, Américo Tomas, were holed up in Carmo Barracks. The soldiers of the Armed Forces Movement, led by Captain Salgueiro Maia, gave those defending the barracks an ultimatum, backed up by loosing off a few rounds to show they meant business. Salgueiro Maia got out of his armoured personnel carrier and walked over to personally negotiate the régime’s surrender, an act of singular courage.

That’s because those defending the barracks had been ordered to shoot him down. They declined to fire on a serving officer of their own army.

He guaranteed safe passage for Caetano and Tomas. He kept his word; the last dictator knew the game was up; the dictatorship fell. Now the barracks houses the Museu da Guarda Nacional Republicana, which you can visit for a small fee; part of the display is dedicated to a timeline of April 25, 1974.

One day on which the square becomes busy - 25th April. See above.

More on the events of April 25, 1974 will appear in The Detail.

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