“Carmo Convent: Ruins of Reverence and the Timeless Beauty of Convent do Carmo”

🏰 As a musician / publisher my experience here on the first day of visiting Lisbon was defining enough for me to move here permanently. I was staying in the Carmo square in a quirly little guesthouse honouring the Portuguese bard Fernando Pessoa. From my bedroom I could here this amazing classical music coming from the ether. Venturing out I realised it was coming from inside the Convent. I walked in, there was no security or ticket office and inside I saw Lisbons premier Symphonic Orchestra playing the works of Mozart underneath the stars. I went to the front, rolled an cigarette and took pictures and no-one said a hoot. It’s been some seven years at time of writing, and I am still here!

🏛️ Established in 1389, the Church of Carmo was an architectural feat of its time, standing shoulder to shoulder with the city’s most majestic structures. The founding by Portuguese hero D. Nuno Alvares Pereira, who chose this site for his final resting place, forever intertwines the Convent’s history with Portugal’s national identity. The site, perched on a hill adjacent to the castle of S. Jorge, once rivaled the grandeur of the Lisbon Cathedral, firmly etching its prominence in the Gothic epoch of Portugal.

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🔔 The tale of the Carmo Convent is a narrative of transformation and resilience. Over centuries, it absorbed various architectural and decorative styles, reflecting the evolving tastes of the periods it endured. However, the great earthquake of 1755 dealt a devastating blow, leaving behind ruins and a legacy entwined with this tragic event. The fire that followed the earthquake further ravaged the structure, resulting in a hauntingly beautiful spectacle that remains preserved to this day. The halted neo-Gothic reconstruction in the mid-19th century, driven by a romantic fondness for medieval ruins, has left the nave’s skeleton open to the sky – a conscious decision that has yielded a captivating ruinous charm.

Carmo Convent

🏺 The Archaeological Museum of Carmo, within these poignant ruins, was established in 1864 by Joaquim Possidonio Narciso da Silva, safeguarding Portugal’s cultural artifacts amid the tumultuous period following the extinction of Religious Orders. It emerged as the nation’s first museum dedicated to Art and Archaeology, a bastion against the erosion of cultural heritage. This institution is a custodian of history, with collections that include stunning pieces of architecture, sculpture, and historically significant archaeological finds.

🌐 From fragments of architecture to the remarkable funerary monuments, the museum’s early collection was a testament to Portugal’s artistic and architectural magnificence. As the museum entered the 20th century, it acquired significant art and archaeological collections, encompassing a range of artifacts from Roman epigraphy to pre-Columbian ceramics. These collections offer a window into a distant past, where visitors can ponder over a thousand artifacts that have withstood the test of time.

🖼️ The museum’s eclectic compilation is as varied as history itself, with treasures accumulated from different eras and origins. Noteworthy are the Roman inscriptions, the intriguing pre-Columbian ceramics and mummies, and the enigmatic artifacts from the Castro de Vila Nova de S. Pedro, offering a glimpse of human history dating back to 3500 BC. The museum helps breathes new life into these peices, merging historical reverence with contemporary interpretation.

🎨 Amidst the solemn backdrop of the Carmo’s ruins, the Archaeological Museum today is not only a guardian of the past but also a patron of the arts. It embraces the dialogue between the historical and the modern, hosting contemporary art interventions that invigorate the space with a fresh perspective. The museum represents a seamless blend of the old and the new, an intersection where ancient relics meet modern creativity.

The ruins serve as a poignant reminder of nature’s might, while the museum within stands as a tribute to humanity’s undying spirit to remember, preserve, and celebrate its past. In the heart of Lisbon, the Carmo Convent remains a place of cultural pilgrimage—a magical fusion of aesthetic pleasure, historical reflection, and educational exploration.

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