4.6.3 Cemitério dos Prazeres

Praça São João Bosco 568

Location HERE.

Open every day, but only from 0900 to 1700 (1800 in summer) hours.

Ever wondered what was behind those gates opposite the Prazeres tram terminus? Indeed, ever wondered why so many tram and bus routes have their termini there?

Here is one of Lisbon’s grandest, largest and most opulent cemeteries. The grand scale of the site is underscored by the offering of guided tours, using what looks like a stretched electric TukTuk. Because there is a lot of ground to cover if you want to see it all.

Beyond the entrance gates is the cemetery’s chapel, itself larger than many outlying towns’ churches. Around and beyond that are row upon row of mausoleums, mostly the resting places of the city’s better-off families.

Opened in 1833, in the wake of a devastating cholera epidemic, and passed into the care of Lisbon Council not many years after that, Prazeres cemetery was known as the “western cemetery” for many years, to distinguish it from the “eastern cemetery” at Alto de São João, which opened in the same year.

Trees line the roads along which those family vaults are clustered. Relatives and friends of those interred may be seen bringing fresh floral tributes, especially on Sundays. It would be perfectly peaceful, were it not for the inevitable aircraft noise: the cemetery is almost directly under the southern approach to the Airport.

There are benches for visitors to rest awhile; some are placed where they can give shade during the summer heat. Allow an hour or so, even for a cursory visit, and longer if you do the guided tour, or take a longer walk.

Tram 25 and 28, Buses 701, 709, 774.

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