West of the Alfama the city dates chiefly from the period after the great earthquake. Its lofty houses, arranged in long straight streets, its gardens and open spaces, a few of its public buildings, and almost all its numerous statues and fountains, will bear comparison with those of any European capital. The centre of social and commercial activity is the district which comprises the Praca do Commercio, Rua Augusta, Rocio, and Avenida da Liberdade. The Praca do Commercio, or Terreiro do Paco, is a spacious square, one side of which faces the river, while the other three sides are occupied by the arcaded buildings of the custom house, post office and ministries. In the midst is a bronze equestrian statue of Joseph I., by J. M de Castro, which was erected in 1775 and gives point to the name of "Black Horse Square" commonly applied to the Praca by the British. A triumphal arch on the north side leads to Rua Augusta, originally intended to be the cloth-merchants' street ; for the plan upon which Lisbon was rebuilt after 1755 involved the restriction of each industry to a specified area. This plan succeeded in the neighbouring Rua Aurea and Rua da Prata, still, as their names indicate, famous for goldsmiths' and silversmiths' shops. Rua Augusta terminates on the north in the Rocio or Praca de Dom Pedro Quarto, a square paved with mosaic of a curious undulatory pattern (Rolling Motion Square) and containing two bronze foun tains, a lofty pillar surmounted by a statue of Pedro IV., and the royal national theatre (Theatro de Dona Maria Segunda), erected on the site which the Inquisition buildings occupied from 1520 to 1836. The narrow Rua do Principe, leading past the central rail way station, a handsome Mauresque building, connects the Rocio with the Avenida da Liberdade, one of the finest avenues in Europe. The central part of the Avenida, a favourite open-air resort of Lisbon society, is used for riding and driving; on each side of it are paved double avenues of trees, with flower-beds, statues, ponds, fountains, etc., and between these and the broad pavements are two roadways for trams and heavy traffic. Thus the Avenida has the appearance of three parallel streets, separated by avenues of trees instead of houses. Its width exceeds 300 ft It owes its name to an obelisk 98 ft. high, erected in 1882 at its southern end, to commemorate the liberation of Portugal from Spanish rule (Dec., 1640). North and north-east of the Avenida are the Avenida Park, the Edward VII. Park (so named in mem ory of a visit paid to Lisbon by the king of England in 1903), Campo Grande, with its finely wooded walks, and Campo Pequeno, with the bull-ring. Other noteworthy public gardens are the Passeio da Estrella, commanding magnificent views of the city and river, the Largo do Principe Real, planted with bananas and other tropical trees, the Tapada das Necessidades, originally the park of one of the royal residences, and the Botanical Gardens of the polytechnic school, with a fine avenue of palms and collections of tropical and subtropical flora hardly surpassed in Europe. There are large Portuguese cemeteries east and west of Lisbon, and an English cemetery, known also as Os Cyprestes from the number of its cypresses. This was laid out in 1717 at the cost of the British and Dutch residents and contains the graves of Henry Fielding (1707-1754), the novelist, and Dr. Philip Doddridge (1702-1751), the Nonconformist divine.
Lisbon is the seat of an archbishop who since 1716 has borne ex officio the honorary title of patriarch. The Estrella church, with its white marble dome and twin towers, is visible for many miles above the city. The late Renaissance church of Sao Roque con tains two beautiful chapels dating from the 18th century, one of which is inlaid with painted tiles, while the other was con structed in Rome of coloured marbles, and consecrated by the pope before being shipped to Lisbon. Its mosaics and lapis
lazuli pillars are exceptionally fine. The 14th-century Gothic Igreja do Carmo was shattered by the great earthquake. Only the apse, pillared aisles and outer walls remain standing, and the interior has been converted into an archaeological museum. The church of Nossa Senhora da Conceicao has a magnificent Manue line facade.
The Palacio das Cortes, in which both Houses of Parliament sit, is a 16th-century Benedictine convent, used for its present purpose since 1834. It contains the national archives, better known as the Torre do Tombo collection, because in 1375 the archives were first stored in a tower of that name. The royal palace, or Paco das Necessidades, west of Buenos Ayres, is a vast
mansion occupying the site of a chapel dedi cated to Nossa Senhora das Necessidades.
In the extreme west of Lisbon, beyond the Alcantara valley, are Belem (i.e., "Bethlehem"), beside the Tagus, and Ajuda, on the heights above. The Paco de Belem, built in 1700 for the counts of Aveiro, became the chief royal palace under John V. (1706-1750). The Torre de Belem, on the foreshore, is a small tower of beautiful design, built in 152o for the protection of shipping. The finest ecclesiastical building in Portugal except the monasteries of Alcobaca and Batalha also fronts the river. It is the Convento dos Jeronymos, a Hieronymite convent and church, founded in 1499 to commemorate the discov ery of the sea-route to India by Vasco da Gama. It was built of white limestone by Joao de Castilho (d. 1581), perhaps the great est of Manueline architects. Parts of the building have been restored, but the cloisters and the beautiful central gateway remain unspoiled. The interior contains many royal tombs, includ ing that of Catherine of Braganza (d. 1705), the wife of Charles II. of England. The supposed remains of Camoens and Vasco da Gama were interred here in 1880. In 1834, when the convent was secularized, its buildings were assigned to the Casa Pia, an orphan age founded by Maria I. Since 1903 they have contained the archaeological collections of the Portuguese Ethnological Museum. The royal Ajuda palace, begun (1816-1826) by John VI. but left unfinished, derives its name from the chapel of N. S. de Ajuda ("Our Lady of Aid"). In the coach-house there is an unsurpassed collection of state coaches, the cars upon which figures of saints are borne in procession, sedan chairs, old cabriolets and other curious vehicles.
The more important towns, Setubal, Cintra, Torres Vedras and Mafra, are described in separate articles. Sines, a small seaport on Cape Sines, was the birthplace of Vasco da Gama. On the left bank of the Tagus, opposite Lisbon, are the small towns of Almada, Barreiro, Aldeia Gallega and Seixal, and the hamlet of Trafaria, inhabited by fishermen. The beautiful strip of coast west of Oeiras and south of Cape Roca is often called the "Portu guese Riviera." Its fine climate, mineral springs and sea-bathing attract visitors at all seasons to the picturesque fortified bay of Cascaes, or to Estoril, Mont' Estoril and Sao Joao do Estoril, consisting chiefly of villas, hotels and gardens. Remarkable prog ress has been made of recent years at Mont' Estoril, where the thermal springs now have magnificent buildings, with a casino and new hotel; the railway to Lisbon has been electrified. The Boca do Inferno ("Mouth of Hell") is a cavity in the rocks at Cascaes resembling the Bufador at Pefiiscola (q.v.). The villages of Car cavellos, Bucellas, Lumiar and Collares produce excellent wines; at Carcavellos is the receiving station for cables, with a large British staff, and a club and grounds where, as at the new Sports Club nearer Lisbon, social and athletic meetings are held by the British colony. Alhandra, on the right bank of the Tagus, above Lisbon, was the birthplace of Albuquerque ; fighting bulls for the Lisbon arena are bred in the adjacent pastures.