- Architecture
- Portugal maintains an important architectural legacy from a long history of contact with invaders and other visitors who brought architectural ideas from Western Europe and North Africa. Among the migrants were Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Germanic peoples, and Arabs, as well as visitors from France, Italy, Holland, Germany, Spain, and Great Britain.Architecture in Portugal has been influenced by the broad Western architectural styles, including Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Neoclassicism. Two Portuguese architectural styles are unique, the Manueline architectural style and the Pombaline, named after the dictator the Marquis of Pombal. Pre-Roman-esque styles include early Megalithic structures, Roman styles, and Moorish or Arab styles, when Portugal was occupied by Muslims (711-1290). This period of Moorish castles and mosques, most but not all of which were razed, was followed by the Romanesque period (1100-ca. 1230), when many churches, monasteries, castles, and palaces were constructed.There followed the Gothic period (ca. 1200-1450), which was dominated by buildings for the Church, the monarchy, and the nobility. Related to Portugal's overseas empire, the kingdom's new role briefly as a world power, especially on the seas, and to the reign of King Manuel I, is the Manueline architectural style, described by scholars as "Atlantic Baroque" (ca. 1490-1520), a bold Portuguese version of late Gothic style. This was followed by styles of Renaissance and Mannerism (ca. 1520-1650), including the "Plain style," which was influenced by Castilian styles under King Felipe I.Following the period 1580 to 1640, when Spain ruled Portugal, there was restoration architecture (1640-1717) and then the Baroque style (1717-55). The largest and most unusual building from this era, the Mafra Palace, is said to be even larger than Spain's El Escorial. Following the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755, was Pombaline style (1755-1860), a blend of late Baroque and Neoclassicism, which began when Pombal's government oversaw the reconstruction of large sections of central Lisbon. Modern architecture followed this period, a style influenced in the 20th century by one of Europe's best architecture schools, the so-called Escola do Porto (School of Oporto). This school is the Faculdade de Arquitectura (School of Architecture), and alumni include celebrated architects Fernando Tavora; Álvaro Siza Vieira, designer of the Portuguese pavilion at Expo '98, Lisbon; and Eduardo Souto de Moura. Despite tragic losses of historic structures due to urban development, since the 1930s many Portuguese governments have sought to preserve and restore the remaining historic legacy of architecture.
Historical dictionary of Portugal 3rd ed.. by Douglas L. Wheeler . 2014.