Museu Arqueológico do Carmo

The ruined convent of the 1755 earthquake, with its archaeological museum under the open sky.

The ruins of the Convento do Carmo in Lisbon

The Convento do Carmo, in the heart of Lisbon, is the great ruin of the 1755 earthquake: the roofless nave of the old convent raises its arches against the sky, and the museum that lives inside keeps one of the most singular collections of the city. Between the broken columns, the sky of Lisbon became part of the museum.

The museum

The convent was founded in the fourteenth century and dominated the hill of Carmo until the earthquake of 1755, which destroyed the church and killed its congregation; the nave was never rebuilt, and the ruins became — in the nineteenth century — the home of the Archaeological Museum, one of the oldest of Portugal. Its collection gathers archaeology, sculpture and objects of the religious life of the city, displayed among the arches of the ruined church.

What to see

The roofless nave of the old convent, open to the sky.
The archaeological collections of the museum.
The tombs and sculpture of the four corners of the nave.
The views over the Baixa and the castle, from the terrace.

Visiting

The museum is on the hill of Carmo, by the Rossio and the Santa Justa lift, in the centre of Lisbon; the times and tickets are published by the museum, and the terrace over the ruins is one of the quiet corners of the city.