4.5.7 Museu Arqueológico do Carmo
Largo do Carmo
Location HERE.
Closed Sundays.
Part museum, but mainly memory: the ruined Convent of Carmo is a poignant symbol of the force possessed by the 1755 earthquake which devastated Lisbon.
On Saturday 1st November that year, the feast of All Saints was celebrated. The Carmo Convent was filled with worshippers; at 0940, the quake struck with such force that the building’s roof gave way, crashing down on those inside. None of them survived.
That such pious and, indeed, penitent beings had been killed indiscriminately posed the question that the religiously inclined were unable, or unwilling, to confront. It was left to Voltaire to put it directly: Where Was God?
At first, it was decided to rebuild the structure, and the museum part of the site, at its east end, is now intact. But later, the restoration was abandoned, the main convent building left as a memorial to those who died, and a reminder of the destructive force of nature.
The artefacts are well presented, and the museum part of the site is worthwhile, but the ruined Convent is the main attraction.
Metro Baixa-Chiado, Bus 758 to Camões or Largo Trindade Coelho, Tram 24 to Camões, or 28 to Chiado. Rail services down the hill at Estação do Rossio.
Location HERE.
Closed Sundays.
Part museum, but mainly memory: the ruined Convent of Carmo is a poignant symbol of the force possessed by the 1755 earthquake which devastated Lisbon.
That such pious and, indeed, penitent beings had been killed indiscriminately posed the question that the religiously inclined were unable, or unwilling, to confront. It was left to Voltaire to put it directly: Where Was God?
The artefacts are well presented, and the museum part of the site is worthwhile, but the ruined Convent is the main attraction.
Metro Baixa-Chiado, Bus 758 to Camões or Largo Trindade Coelho, Tram 24 to Camões, or 28 to Chiado. Rail services down the hill at Estação do Rossio.
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