Description: We found the streets of the
Bairro Alto to be well-kept and well-populated – a distinct difference to the the often shabby and sometimes deserted Alfama. This area is pretty spruce and ritzy with patterned cobbles in the streets and quares and chic boutiques and noodle bars jostling for space. It is all very pleasant.
A tarnished statue of a dinky lottery ticket seller, cigarette dangling from under his moustache, announces that you are in Largo Trinidade Coelho. The north-western side of this square is formed by the
Igreja de São Roque. You wouldn’t believe it to look at it, but this church contains a chapel that, relative to its size, is estimated to be the most expensive ever constructed.
Entry to the church is free. Inside the décor is quite giddy with bling – a total contrast to the bare grey
Sé. The walls were lined with patterned
azulejo tiles, the flat wooden ceiling had been given a baroque
trompe l’oeil effect to make it appear slightly arched, and the side chapels all had massive gilt altars. The highlight thjough is the most expensive side chapel, that of the
Chapel of St John the Baptist, up ahead on the left.
This chapel was constructed in 1742 at the then astronomical cost of £250,000 – a huge amount for this shallow side chapel (though a speck in the ocean compared to the profits the Portuguese monarchy were then accruing from Brazil where 20% of all gold mined was declared crown property). The cost comes from two different sources. The first is the material used in its construction. The balustrades are green marble, the walls red marble, and the entire chapel lavishly decorated with ivory, agate, porphyry and lapis lazuli. The three ‘oil paintings’ on display are actually incredibly intricate mosaics made up from crushed precious minerals. The second aspect of the cost came from the fact that it was actually constructed twice. Dom João V originally had the chapel constructed in Rome for Pope Benedict XIV to celebrate Mass in. The chapel was then deconstructed, shipped over to Lisbon, and then reassembled here. This was part of an orchestrated courtship of the papacy to recognise the Braganza dynasty as the lawful rulers of Portugal.
With entry being free (though there is a charge to view the adjacent museum) the Igreja is well worth a look. It is open to the public until 18:00 daily. They seem to be very stringent on this; on our visit we found the lights being flicked off by the custodian at 17:50.
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