History of Praça do Comércio
Praça do Comércio grew out of the rebuilding of Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake. Before that, this was the Terreiro do Paço, the yard of the royal palace that King Manuel I built in the early 16th century. The plan of 1758 laid out the new square, the name appeared in 1759 and the arch was finished only in 1875.
Updated
What was there before Praça do Comércio
Before the square there was the Terreiro do Paço, the open yard in front of the royal palace. The Paço da Ribeira was the kings’ residence from the early 16th century until the earthquake of 1755.
King Manuel I had land reclaimed from the Tagus and built his new palace on it. The Casa da Índia worked on its ground floor, and around it stood the customs house, the mint, the arsenal and the royal armoury.
The shipyards that had lined the bank moved west and became known as the Ribeira das Naus. The ground won from the river in front of the palace became the Terreiro do Paço. It was where kings were acclaimed and where the city held its festivities.
During the union with Spain, the palace gained a square tower over the river, the torreão de Terzi. On the morning of 1 December 1640, a group of noblemen took the palace and threw the secretary of state, Miguel de Vasconcelos, from a window onto the Terreiro. It was the end of the Iberian Union.
On 2 April 1755 the Ópera do Tejo opened beside the palace. Seven months later the earthquake destroyed the opera house, the palace and every building on the Terreiro.
The 1755 earthquake on the Terreiro do Paço
On the morning of 1 November 1755, the earthquake, the tsunami and the fire flattened the centre of Lisbon and destroyed every building on the Terreiro do Paço, including the palace and the royal library.
Where the palace had stood, the plan for the Baixa laid out a new square, designed for trade.
Who built Praça do Comércio
The square was designed at the Casa do Risco das Obras Públicas, the public works drawing office, first by Eugénio dos Santos and then by Carlos Mardel. It was part of the plan for rebuilding the Baixa, led by Manuel da Maia for King José I and the future Marquis of Pombal. The works took more than a century.
1758
With the royal charter of 12 May, the shape of the square is fixed in the plan for the Baixa.
1759
On 19 June the master masons and carpenters sign the building contract. Pine arrives from the forests around Alcácer do Sal. The stone comes from quarries opened for the purpose near São Domingos de Rana.
1760
Eugénio dos Santos dies. Carlos Mardel runs the Casa do Risco until his own death in 1763.
1775
On 6 June the equestrian statue of King José I by Joaquim Machado de Castro is unveiled. The square is still half built, with the customs house and the exchange already in place.
1797
The Cais das Colunas, the square’s steps down to the river, is finished.
1842
The west tower is completed. The square is finished except for the arch.
1875
The Rua Augusta Arch, the last piece of the square, is completed.
Why it is called Praça do Comércio
The new square was planned for trade, with the merchants’ exchange, the Bolsa, and the customs house. The name Praça do Comércio (Commerce Square) first appears in a document of June 1759.
On 2 January 1756, Lisbon’s merchants offered a contribution of 4% on imported goods to rebuild the customs houses and the exchange. A royal decree of 16 June 1758 authorised the Bolsa dos Comerciantes on the site of the old Terreiro do Paço.
The name appears in the building contract signed on 19 June 1759, the "escritura de obrigação da manufactura da Praça do Comércio". By 1775 the finished part held the customs house, the exchange, law courts and the Public Library. The north wing housed the city council, the Board of Trade and the secretariats of state.
The square in the 19th and 20th centuries
Once finished, the square was extended over the river, changed colour three times and served as a car park from the 1960s to 1997.
1857
The square is extended southwards over landfill in the Tagus.
1910
The square is listed as a National Monument.
1932
The Sul e Sueste river station by Cottinelli Telmo opens south-east of the square.
1940
The buildings are painted green, on the decision of the architect Raul Lino.
1960s
The centre of the square becomes a car park.
1976
The square is painted pink, and a debate begins about its original colour.
1993
The city council holds an ideas competition to take the cars out of the centre of the square.
1994
The square is painted yellow, as the historian José-Augusto França suggested. He held that the original colour was jalde, a shade of yellow.
1997
The cars leave the square and the centre is repaved. Work on the metro begins, and Cais das Colunas has to be taken down.
Where the 1908 regicide happened
On 1 February 1908, King Carlos I and the heir to the throne, Prince Luís Filipe, were shot dead in their carriage at the western end of the square, by the corner with Rua do Arsenal.
The royal family was returning from Vila Viçosa. They crossed the Tagus by boat from Barreiro and landed at the Sul e Sueste river station at about 17:00. They set off in an open carriage, escorted by a single mounted officer, and drove round the square.
Manuel Buíça fired a carbine at the king and Alfredo Costa climbed onto the carriage step to fire as well. The prince was hit as he stood to return fire with a revolver. Prince Manuel was wounded in the arm. Both gunmen were killed on the spot.
The coachman drove the carriage to the Navy Arsenal, where the king and the prince were declared dead. Prince Manuel became King Manuel II. A plaque by the corner of the square and Rua do Arsenal marks the place.
25 April 1974 on Praça do Comércio
In the early hours of the revolution, Captain Salgueiro Maia’s column from the Cavalry School in Santarém occupied the square and surrounded the ministries. The government forces that arrived later refused to open fire.
05:45
Salgueiro Maia’s column drives onto the Terreiro do Paço, where the Military Police guard the ministries.
06:00
The troops surround the ministries and the city hall. Over the radio, the command post hears "Ocupámos Toledo" ("we have taken Toledo"). Toledo was the code name for the square.
09:00
The frigate Almirante Gago Coutinho takes up position on the Tagus in front of the square, under orders to prepare to open fire. It does not fire.
09:35
A force loyal to the government arrives with 4 tanks. Half stay at the Ribeira das Naus and the other half come in along Rua do Arsenal.
09:40
The ministers sheltering in the Army Ministry escape out of the back, through a hole knocked in the wall into the Navy Ministry.
10:06
Brigadier Junqueira dos Reis orders his men to fire on the rebels. The corporals and soldiers in the tanks refuse.
11:00
The column leaves the square and heads up to the Largo do Carmo, where the head of government, Marcello Caetano, is.
11:45
The frigate withdraws to the Mar da Palha, the wide inner basin of the Tagus.
The square since 2007: metro, works and boats
Between 2007 and 2013 the square gained a metro station, new paving, a river terminal and the viewpoint on top of the arch.
Terreiro do Paço station, on the Blue line, opened on 19 December 2007. In 2008 the State (60%) and the city (40%) set up the company Frente Tejo to renew the riverfront between Cais do Sodré and Santa Apolónia. The square was its first project, in 2009 and 2010.
The design, by Bruno Soares’s practice, gave the north side to public transport, widened the pavements beside the arcades and left the centre free for large events. The centre was lowered, which makes the statue stand higher and improves drainage, and the paving was laid with diagonal lines of lioz limestone.
On 11 May 2010 Pope Benedict XVI said Mass on the Terreiro do Paço. The new river terminal, with boats to Barreiro, opened on 4 September 2011, and the viewpoint on the Rua Augusta Arch opened to the public on 9 August 2013.
Frequently asked questions
Who built Praça do Comércio?
The square was designed at the Casa do Risco das Obras Públicas, first by Eugénio dos Santos and, from 1760, by Carlos Mardel, under the rebuilding plan led by Manuel da Maia. King José I and his minister, the future Marquis of Pombal, commissioned it. The master masons and carpenters signed the building contract in 1759.
Why is it called Praça do Comércio?
Because the square rebuilt after the earthquake was planned for trade, with the merchants’ exchange and the customs house. In 1756 Lisbon’s merchants offered a contribution of 4% on imports to rebuild the customs houses and the exchange. The name Praça do Comércio (Commerce Square) first appears in a document of June 1759.
What was there before Praça do Comércio?
Before the 1755 earthquake this was the Terreiro do Paço, the yard of the Paço da Ribeira, the kings’ palace from the early 16th century onwards. Around it stood the Casa da Índia, the customs house, the mint, the Ópera do Tejo and the Ribeira das Naus shipyards. The earthquake destroyed all of it.
Where was King Carlos of Portugal assassinated?
On Praça do Comércio in Lisbon, at the western end, by the corner with Rua do Arsenal, on 1 February 1908. The king and Prince Luís Filipe were riding in an open carriage after landing at the Sul e Sueste river station. Both gunmen were killed on the spot. A plaque marks the place.
Why is Praça do Comércio yellow?
The buildings were painted yellow in 1994, following the historian José-Augusto França, who held that the original colour was jalde, a shade of yellow. Before that the square was green from 1940 and pink from 1976.