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, a German cemetery, 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; he presides over the House of
Peers and is usually appointed a cardinal. The churches of modern Lisbon
are generally built in the Italian style of the 18th century; the
interiors are overlaid with heavy ornament. Perhaps the finest is the
Estrella church, with its white marble dome and twin towers visible for
many miles above the city. The late Renaissance church of São Roque
contains two beautiful chapels dating from the 18th century, one of
which is inlaid with painted tiles, while the other was constructed 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 Conceição has a
magnificent Manoeline façade.
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 Paço das Necessidades, west of
Buenos Ayres, is a vast 18th-century mansion occupying the site of a
chapel dedicated to Nossa Senhora das Necessidades (i.e. "Our Lady who
helps at need").
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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