Explore Lisbon

Praça do Comércio is a square of about 175 by 175 metres on the Tagus waterfront, laid out after the 1755 earthquake on the site of the destroyed Ribeira Palace as part of the Marquis of Pombal's rebuilding of the Baixa. Arcaded buildings frame three sides, with an equestrian statue of King José I in the centre and the Rua Augusta Arch to the north.

Rossio, officially Praça de D. Pedro IV, has been one of the main squares of Lisbon's Baixa since the Middle Ages, the scene of markets, bullfights, revolts and the Inquisition's autos-da-fé. Its wave-patterned Portuguese pavement surrounds the 1874 column of King Pedro IV and two bronze fountains, with the D. Maria II National Theatre on the north side.

Igreja de São Roque was the first Jesuit church in Portugal: its first stone was laid in 1555 and it was redesigned in 1565 as a single hall built for preaching. It survived the 1755 earthquake largely intact and passed to the Santa Casa da Misericórdia. Its Chapel of St John the Baptist was made in Rome in the 1740s and shipped to Lisbon.

Miradouro de Santa Luzia is a terrace viewpoint beside the Church of Santa Luzia in Alfama, looking over the rooftops of the old quarter to the Tagus. Its pergola is hung with bougainvillea, and its south wall carries two azulejo panels, one of Praça do Comércio before the 1755 earthquake and one of the Christian attack on São Jorge Castle.

The Estrela Basilica was begun in 1779 for Queen Maria I, who had vowed to build a church if she bore an heir, and was the first church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Its white facade has twin bell towers and a large dome visible across western Lisbon. Inside, grey, pink and yellow marble lines the floor and walls, and the queen's tomb lies in the transept.