#365 - The Beggar

#318 - Rua Augusta amusement

#291 - Rua Augusta peddlers

Near the arch that gives way to the Commerce Street you will find many peddlers with all sorts of things to sell from jewellery to shoes to handbags, neck-scarfs to temporary tattoos... anything... just name it!

#289 - The Clown

In fact are the clowns ugly and irritate the children?

#287 - Statue Man at Rua Augusta

He mooved everytime he got some money!

#237 - Rua Augusta windows

#223 - Rua Augusta VII

Renovation of the Arch clock on Lisbon’s Rua Augusta

Hubert de Haro - Vice President, Espiral do Tempo

"Visitors and lovers of fine watches are sometimes surprised by how knowledgeable Portuguese watch collectors are. Some recall how in the 1940s, when the Nazis were blockading Europe, Portugal played a role in Swiss watch exports to America and Asia. However, Portugal’s connection with horology goes back much further than this.

A visitor to light-filled Lisbon today probably wouldn’t be expecting to see the Jaeger-LeCoultre name emblazoned on one of the Portuguese capital’s most emblematic monuments: the Triumphal Arch on Rua Augusta. This is just the visible face of a slightly crazy venture dreamed up by one of the country’s leading names in watches, Pedro Torres, who represents the Le Sentier firm in Portugal. After more than two years’ arduous negotiations with the Portuguese Institute for Heritage Protection, a protocol was finally signed on March 30th, 2007. Its aim is to restore to life the clock which for over a century has marked time for the Lisboans.

The earthquake from 1755

Horology historian Fernando Correio de Oliveira recounts the trials and tribulations of the Rua Augusta clock over the centuries*. Its legendary square, now occupied by ministries but once the seat of royal power, was devastated in the great earthquake that struck Lisbon in 1755. Voltaire relates the disastrous consequences on the city’s population in Candide. A vast part of Lisbon was razed to the ground, including the clock tower - which King João V (1680-1750) had commissioned from the Italian architect Canevari and financed with gold from Brazil - and its sumptuous clock, no doubt Flemish. The city’s reconstruction, led by the Marquis of Pombal, would take almost a century to complete. It was only on December 4th, 1883 that the Arch’s clock was brought back into service.

For this, Augusto Justiniano de Araújo, founder of the Lisbon school of watchmaking, transformed a seventeenth-century clock taken from the Convent of Jesus. It had a verge and foliot escapement, and neither dial nor hands. Time was sounded by a bell mounted at the top of the Arch. De Araújo replaced the foliot with a balance, thereby significantly improving the clock’s accuracy, and added a dial, hour and minute hands.

Manuel Francisco Cousinha

Lack of maintenance meant the clock had to be replaced at the turn of the last century. The task fell to Manuel Francisco Cousinha, one of the great clockmakers of that time. Fittingly, his grandson will lead the functional and aesthetic restoration of both this clock and the seventeen-century clock, which had been left to neglect inside the Arch.

Only a privileged few were able to visit the inside of the Arch on Rua Augusta prior to the start of renovation work on May 30th, 2007. They included Jérôme Lambert, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre who, last year, had the flair to support this local initiative. Work is expected to reach completion by early autumn.

To commemorate this partnership, Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre will launch, in Portugal, a limited edition of 32 (a reference to the number of years it took to build the Arch) Reverso Squadra Hometime watches in pink gold with a special engraving of the Arch." [*]

#222 - Rua Augusta VI

#221 - Rua Augusta V

Permanent residents: PIGEONS!! Be aware! LOL

#220 - Rua Augusta IV

"Rua Augusta (Augusta street) is located in one of the busiest quarters of Lisbon. Closed to traffic, this pedestrianised street has all sorts of shops for all sorts of tastes, flower peddlars, hot chestnuts sellers, street cafés, independent street Artists like the "statue man" or the familiar harmonica player and many, many more."

For more information see the previous posts.

#219 - Rua Augusta III

The Baixa was once the commercial heart of the city, but that role is fading. These streets once housed all the city's banks and many of their tradespeople, including jewelers and shoemakers. Surrounding streets bear the names of the trades (Rua do Ouro, Rua dos Sapateiros, etc.) and, thanks to rent control, some shops remain.

The Baixa lies on a true rectangular grid, laid out by the Marquês de Pombal in 1755 after an earthquake decimated large parts of the city. [*]

#218 - Rua Augusta II

"Rua Augusta is the main street of Lisbon's central shopping district. A pedestrian street, the views up and down the hills of the city, and through to the Praca Commercio, are incredible. All manner of streetlife and activity abound.

Why It Works

Rua Augusta, like all successful streets, performs two key functions: it takes you somewhere, and you enjoy simply being on it. The street is a huge sidewalk, with cafes and shops along it, as well as temporary vendors and information kiosks down the middle and at intersections.

The street itself is beautiful, made up of Lisbon's famous black and white pavers, and designed such that each intersection offered a view of the adjoining hillside neighborhoods. In addition, either end of Rua Augusta is capped by a focal point, the Praça do Comércio on one end, and the Rossio on the other. Not only do these points draw the walker along, they also are important destinations in the city itself.

While Rua Augusta is a bit touristy, and the cafes, while famous are somewhat tired, it has an amazing life its own, and features so many great innovations in maintenance and practice that it deserves to be featured. See photos for more details." [*]

#217 - Rua Augusta I

"Rua Augusta (Augusta street) is located in one of the busiest quarters of Lisbon. Closed to traffic, this pedestrianised street has all sorts of shops for all sorts of tastes, flower peddlars, hot chestnuts sellers, street cafés, independent street Artists like the "statue man" or the familiar harmonica player and many, many more.

This street has on both extremes two magnificent squares: the Rossio Square and the Commerce Square. Near the arch that gives way to the Commerce Street you will find many peddlers with all sorts of things to sell from jewellery to shoes to handbags, neck-scarfs to temporary tattoos... anything... just name it!

Another curious thing in this area is the name of the streets that run parallel to Rua Augusta. They all come from the occupations or the materials once existent and worked on here: Rua dos Sapateiros (shoemakers), Rua da Prata (silver), Rua do Ouro (gold), etc.
The old architectural style, originally from the reconstruction of Lisbon made by Marquês do Pombal after the 1755 earthquake, is still intact, so you can see many of the buildings as they originally were. You're going to love this street!" [*]

#212 - The Arc of Rua Augusta

The Arch of Triumph Rua Augusta is part of the whole architecture of Commerce Square, perhaps the most monumental square of the city of Lisbon.
The decision of building a Square was taken following the works of reconstruction, just after the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. The project of the authors of Mardel and Carlos Eugenio dos Santos include the construction of a large square, supplemented by a statue of King Joseph I and a triumphal arch. The works of construction started in 1759, given that in 1775, the year of the official opening of the equestrian statue, the work of the arc had already started. The work continued in the square, and around 1815 were only placed the columns that supposed to bear the future triumphal arch. Only later in 1843, is that it will launch new tender for its construction, won by the architect Veríssimo Jose da Costa. The work only started in 1862, leaving only the arc completed in 1873. The large-scale sculptures that decorate only been placed in 1875, and are the authors of Vitor Bastos and A. Calmels.
The arch has three bodies and the central, higher, also the most important for the load that has iconographic. This gives central body, inside, a decoration of carved panels, and a rosette which marks the closing of the arc back whole. The side facing the street Augusta presents a monumental clock, ornamented with vegetalistas reasons, while the side facing the river can be seen from the actual shield with the arms of Portugal, in relief, and surrounded by sheets of palm. The real shield is flanked by statues of four major, two on each side, representing, Nuno Alvares Pereira, the Marquis de Pombal (right), Viriato and Vasco da Gama (left). Behind these figures largest in Portuguese history, are two figures recostadas (one on each side), representing the rivers Douro (right) and Tagus (left). At the top of the arch is a sculpture group that is the crowning glory the Génio and value, and below an inscription in Latin iron.
The triumphal arch of the Rua Augusta, as well as the entire architecture of Commerce Square has been classified as National Monument since 1910. [*]