LISBON (Lisboa), the capital of Portugal; on the right bank of the river Tagus, near its entrance into the Atlantic Ocean, in 38° 32' 24" N. and 9° III Io" W. Pop. (1930), 594,39o. Lisbon, the westernmost of European capitals, is built in a succession of terraces up the sides of a range of low hills. It fronts the Tagus, and the view from the river of its white houses, and its numerous parks and gardens, is comparable in beauty with the approach to Naples or Constantinople by sea. The lower reaches of the estuary form a channel (Entrada do Tejo) about 2 m. wide and 8 m. long, which is partially closed at its mouth by a bar of silt, while the Rada de Lisboa is a tidal lake formed by the broadening of the estuary in its upper part to fill a basin I Y m. long with an average breadth of nearly 7 m. Lisbon extends for more than 5 m. along the shores of both channel and lake, and for more than 3 m. inland. Its suburbs, which generally terminate in a belt of vineyards, parks or gardens, interspersed with villas and farms, stretch in some cases beyond the inner line of defence 25 m. long, supplementary to the forts and other military works at the mouth of the Tagus, on the heights of Cintra and Alverca, and at Caxias, Sacavem, Monsanto and Ameixoeira. The climate of Lis bon is mild and equable, though somewhat oppressive in summer. Extreme cold is so rare that in the twenty years 1856-1876 snow fell only thrice. The mean annual temperature is 60.1° F, the mean for winter 50.9°, the average rainfall 29.45 in. The water supply is conveyed to the city by two vast aqueducts. The older of these is the Aqueducto das Aguas Livres, which was built in the first half of the 18th century and starts from a point near Bellas, 15 m. W.N.W. It is conveyed across the Alcantara valley through a magnificent viaduct of thirty-five arches, exceeding 200 ft. in height. At the Lisbon end of the aqueduct is the Mae de Agua (i.e., "Mother of Water"), containing a huge stone hall in the midst of which is the reservoir. The Alviella aqueduct, opened in 188o, brings water from Alviella near Pernes, 7o m. N.N.E.
The four municipal districts (bairros) into which Lisbon is divided are the Alfama, or old town, in the east; the Cidade Baixa, or lower town, which extends inland from the naval arsenal and custom house; the Bairro Alto, comprising all the high ground West of the Cidade Baixa; and the Alcantara, or westernmost district, named after the small river Alcantara, which flows down into the Tagus. Other names commonly used, though unofficial,
are "Lisboa Oriental" as an alternative for Alfama; "Lisboa Occi dental" for the slopes which lead from the Cidade Baixa to the Bairro Alto; "Buenos Ayres" (originally so named from the num ber of its South American residents) for the Bairro Alto south west of the Estrella Gardens and east of the Necessidades Park ; "Campo de Ourique" and "Rato" for the suburbs respectively north-west and north-east of Buenos Ayres.
The Alfama represents Roman and Moorish Lisbon; many of its narrow, steep and winding alleys retain the mediaeval aspect which all other parts of the city have lost; and almost rival the slums of Oporto in picturesque squalor. The most conspicuous feature of the Alfama is the rocky hill surmounted by the Castello de Sao Jorge, a Moorish citadel which has been converted into a fort and barracks. The Se Patriarcal, a cathedral founded in 1150 by Alphonso I. was wrecked by an earthquake in 1344 and rebuilt in 1380, but the earthquake of 1755 shattered the dome; the roof and belfry were subsequently burned, and after the work of restoration was completed the choir and facade were the only parts of the 14th-century Gothic church unspoiled. In one of the side chapels is the tomb of St. Vincent (d. 304), patron saint of Lisbon; a pair of ravens kept within the cathedral precincts are popularly believed to be the same birds which, according to the legend, miraculously guided the saint's vessel to the city. The armorial bearings of Lisbon, representing a ship and two ravens, commemorate the legend. Other noteworthy buildings in the Alfama are the i2th-century church of Sao Vicente de Fora, originally, as its name implies, "outside" the city; the 13th century chapel of Nossa Senhora do Monte and the Oth-century church of Nossa Senhora da Graca, which contains a reputed wonder-working statue of Christ and the tomb of Afonso de Albuquerque .