Carmo Convent

It was founded in 1389 by the constable Nuno Álvares Pereira, hero of Portugal's independence from Castile, and was Lisbon's largest Gothic church. The 1755 earthquake brought down the roof, and after several attempts it was decided to leave the arches open to the sky as a memorial to the disaster.

Since 1864 the apse has housed the Carmo Archaeological Museum, one of Portugal's first, with Gothic tombs, Roman pieces and even mummies from Egypt and Peru. In the square outside, at the Carmo barracks, dictator Marcelo Caetano surrendered on 25 April 1974.