Igreja da Graça & Miradouro Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen
Why is it significant?
Walk through Largo da Graça, past Vila Sousa, a nineteenth-century block whose façade is clad in patterned glazed tiles, and stop on the terrace under the pines, in front of the tall church and its bell tower. Below you, the castle walls, the Mouraria rooftops and the Baixa, laid out like a map.
Key Facts
| Place | Igreja da Graça & Miradouro Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen |
|---|---|
| Address | Largo da Graça, 1170 Lisboa, Portugal |
| Geo Coordinates | 38.71640, -9.13160 |
| Part of Walk | Lisbon in Blue and White: Graça, São Vicente & the Azulejo Trail |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk through Largo da Graça, past Vila Sousa, a nineteenth-century block whose façade is clad in patterned glazed tiles, and stop on the terrace under the pines, in front of the tall church and its bell tower. Below you, the castle walls, the Mouraria rooftops and the Baixa, laid out like a map.
The Augustinian friars settled on this hill in the thirteenth century, and their convent became one of the richest in Lisbon. Most of what you see was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1755. Inside, eighteenth-century blue-and-white tiles cover the walls, telling sacred stories in the same style you will meet again at São Vicente. Every year in Lent a procession carries the image of the Senhor dos Passos, Christ bearing the cross, from this church through the streets, a tradition that goes back to the sixteenth century.
There is a lost grave here too. Afonso de Albuquerque, the ruthless commander who seized Goa and Malacca for Portugal, was eventually buried in this church, but his tomb was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake and his remains were never identified again. The empire's most feared admiral has no grave anyone can visit.
The terrace itself carries a gentler name. Today it honours Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, one of the great poets of the Portuguese language, who lived for many years in this part of Lisbon. Her poems are full of light, sea and clean white walls... in 1999 she became the first woman to receive the Camões Prize, and in 2014 she was laid to rest in the National Pantheon you will see later on this walk. Her bust watches the view she loved.
Stay a moment and read the city like one of her poems: white, blue, gold. Then cross back over the square and follow Rua da Voz do Operário downhill, past the workers' society that gave the street its name. In about five minutes, a huge white façade with two towers will rise in front of you.