Comércio Square
In Comércio Square—better known as Praça do Comércio or, locally, Terreiro do Paço—the harbour-facing space you associate with Lisbon was shaped by catastrophe and state power. The plaza covers 175 by 175 metres, an area of about 30,600 m², and it looks south toward the Tagus. Before the square took its later form, the Ribeira Palace, residence of Portugal’s monarchs, stood here until it was destroyed in the great 1755 Lisbon earthquake. After that disaster, the area was completely remodeled as part of the Pombaline Downtown (Baixa) reconstruction, ordered by Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the 1st Marquis of Pombal, who served as (chief) minister from 1750 to 1777 during the reign of King José I. By the 19th century, Praça do Comércio had become the seat of major government departments, and even functioned as a metonym for the central state—while the Supreme Court also sat here. …
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