2022
This is just a story about a photo taken of a city street! On Saturday, 1 November, 1755, the holy day of All Saints' Day, the city of Lisbon was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake, often referred to as the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, or The Great Lisbon earthquake for short. It was one of the deadliest earthquakes in history and believed to have reached a magnitude 9 on the Richter scale! This earthquake was so massive that as well as many towns along Portugal's western and southern coasts, significant damage and loss of life occurred in southwestern Spain and most of Morocco's Atlantic coast.
The sad thing was that it occurred around 9:30am and being a holy day most of the city's population were at mass in Lisbon's opulent churches and cathedrals, many of which collapsed or ignited by church candles. Many of those who managed to escape the falling debris and fire ravaged churches and buildings, sought refuge in the nearby harbor at the mouth of the Tagus River where soon after they would face a second disaster! It was here that massive 12-metre high tsunami waves followed the earthquake, a tsunami that was felt as far away as England to the north and in the Caribbean islands on the other side of the North Atlantic!
After the earthquake, the city was rebuilt and the street shown in my photo, then known as Rua Bella da Rainha, was built. I've seen this written as Rua Bella da Rayniia and I believe it was named after the Queen D. Mariana Vitória (1718-1781), the wife of King D. José I and daughter of Filipe V from Spain. Shortly after the October 1910 revolution when the centuries-old Portuguese Monarchy was overthrown and replaced by the First Portuguese Republic, this historical Lisbon street, was renamed to what it is called today, Rua da Prata. It is one of the main streets of Lisbon linking the Commerce Square (Praça do Comércio) to Figueira Square (Praça da Figueira). In it's former days this street was lined with silversmiths and booksellers. While this is not the main activity on this street today, you will still find some jewelers, goldsmiths and booksellers there.
In my photo above of Rua da Prata Praça, the lines of the tram tracks and buildings on both sides lead your eyes toward the tramcar further down the street and Praça da Figueira with its Statue of King John I (Estátua de Dom João I). A close-up of this statue, behind the maze of the overhead tramcar electric wires is shown below.
During the reconstruction of Lisbon after the earthquake, Roman Galleries (ruins) built in the first century AD and said to be part of the ancient Roman city of Olisipo (the name of Lisbon when part of the Roman Empire), were discovered hidden beneath the junction of Rua da Prata and Rua da Conceiҫão. As they are usually flooded with water, these galleries are only open to the public on the Day of the Cultural Heritage so in the last week of September! Rua da Prata is certainly a Lisbon Street with a story!
#2 - Fundamentally, this is just a story about a photo taken of a city street. But why #2? Well because there is also a prequel, yes a #1 and just in case you are wondering, yes there will be a #3 (the plot thickens) so do check out the previous story.
Do you have a story to tell about what might first appear to be one of those just another photo?
Thank you for your appreciation and comment @AbdullahAM. I love history and beautiful Lisbon is certainly one city in the world with a lot of history and I thought I'd start with a few posts about it 🙂
6 months!!!! No way!!! You lucky Local Guide girl you 😉 Were you mainly based in Lisboa @Bobiisha? What did you like most? No holding back, you must tell us more 😉 Yes to think that this city was all but destroyed with estimates of some 100,000 deaths, it is truly amazing that it was rebuilt into the amazing city that it is today. It is one of my favorite European cities. I visited Portugal 3 times, from north to south, and have many amazing stories and photographs to go with them. I've had some problems with my Maps review of Padrão dos Descobrimentos and only just started adding more reviews.
Thank you @Sophia_Cambodia, I'm really happy that you also like it. Cities like this are just so different to Phnom Penh or HCMC!
Although, as you can see in my photo, there are cars and trams in Lisboa, as no doubt @Bobiisha can confirm, it has some amazing in fact beautiful pavements and there are people walking around everywhere. It really is a people city, I love it and I am sure the jetsetter @Sophia_Cambodia would love it too 😉
