The Herdade de São Roque (Saint Roch’s estate) of the Lisbon Trinity Convent Its origin and urbanization in 1554-1555 integrated the Bairro Alto and analysis of one of its lots, the Palace of the Counts of Tomar, the former municipal newspapers library

Abstract

Initially, the area around the Trinity Monastery was an olive grove in the urban fringe of Lisbon. In the fourteenth century, the Fernandine Wall divided it getting a portion inside walls, which was urbanized in the early sixteenth century, and a portion outside, called Herdade de São Roque (Saint Roch’s estate) urbanized much later, by the mid-century. The subdivision and urbanization took place quickly and, by analyzing the confrontation, it was possible to identify each lot and its original owners. Three of these lots have given rise to the current Palace of the Counts of Tomar, property that has received a great artistic campaign in the nineteenth century, visible in its monumental staircase, in its interior stucco works, and in the facade of Italian Baroque taste, but preserved in the interior walls several traces of its initial phase, of the mid-sixteenth century, and of the neighbouring parcels’ absorption process.