Lisboa - Museu Arqueológico do Carmo

The Phoenicians founded bases in Portugal from 1000 BC. They and later the c are said to have called the site "Alis Ubbo" and used it as the only large natural harbor on the Iberian Atlantic coast. According to Pliny the Elder, Lisbon was later regarded as a foundation of Odysseus.

Under Roman rule, from around 205 BC, the city was initially called Olisipo. Julius Caesar succeeded in breaking the last resistance of the local tribes in 60 BC. Under Caesar, Roman veterans were settled here to control the area. The town was granted Roman city rights in 48 BC and subsequently became a larg town in the province of Lusitania. From 409 A.D. onwards, barbarian tribes advanced into the Iberian Peninsula. Alans, Suebi, Vandals and Visigoths attempted to occupy Lisbon. In 468, the Roman city commander surrendered the city to the Suebi, but shortly after the earthquake of 472 the Visigoths began to rule.

In 719, Lisbon was conquered by Muslim Moors and later became part of the Emirate of Córdoba. After this, the city experienced its first major boom. Although Alfonso II conquered the city for a short time in 798,[ Lisbon soon fell to the Moors again. During the Caliphate of Córdoba, the city was one of the most important ports, while Christian Galicians and Leonese repeatedly attempted to conquer it. Vikings devastated the city and the surrounding area in 844.

In the 11th century, Lisbon belonged to the Emirate of Badajoz. From 1093, Raymond of Armous, a son of William I of Burgundy, was given the rule of Galicia. From there, he undertook campaigns against the Moors in the south. He succeeded in temporarily entering Lisbon after the Muslim ruler of Badajoz had submitted to King Alfonso, but even this conquest was was not permanent, nor was the occupation of Lisbon by Norwegian crusaders under Sigurd in 1108.


Even when Alfonso I came to power, the south of the Iberian Peninsula was still held by the Moors. However, in 1147, the siege of Lisbon finally led to the capture of the city. External support for the attackers was decisive: the successful siege of the city by an army of crusaders from the Second Crusade secured Alfonso I the basis for his rule over the entire surrounding area.

An earthquake struck on the morning of 1 November 1755.Along with a major fire and a tsunami, the Lisbon earthquake destroyed the Portuguese capital almost completely. With 30,000 to 100,000 deaths of the 275,000 inhabitants, this earthquake is one of the most devastating natural disasters in European history. About 85 percent of all Lisbon's buildings were destroyed,

The Convento do Carmo is a former convent of the Carmelite order. It was built between 1389 and 1423 in response to a vow made by Marshal Nuno Álvares Pereira. The building complex also includes the Igreja do Carmo church, which was considered a magnificent example of Gothic architecture.

The building was destroyed in earthquake of 1755. The restoration initiated by Queen Maria came to a standstill after the secularization of the monastic orders in 1834, after only one wing of the monastery had been restored. Today it is the headquarters of the Portuguese National Guard.

The ruins of the monastery church house the Museu Arqueológico do Carmo.

Pillar with griffins, 9th - 10th century