LISBON CIVITAS

Lisbon has been selected by Roberto Amati in relation to the real history of european integration, then enlisted in the CITY OR CIVITAS category, accompanied by own fact SHEET useful to the comprehension, completed of historical MAPS AND IMAGES or with a direct linking to the related Blog contents dedicated to the the aeternitas and the future of Europe.

Lisbon is one of the most ancient cities of the history of European integration, signed in great part by Christianity. Lisbon's name may derive from Proto-Celtic referred to popular legends on the city founded by the mythical hero Ulysses/Odysseus cause Lisbon's name was written Ulyssippo in Latin, later referred to as 'Olisippo' by Pliny the Elder and by the Greeks as Olissipo (Ὀλισσιπών) or Olissipona (Ὀλισσιπόνα). Even though during the Neolithic age the region was inhabited by Megalithics people, who built religious and funerary monuments, megaliths, dolmens, menhirs which still exist on the periphery areas of Lisbon, followed by Indo-European Celts that invaded in the 1st millennium B.C., mixing with the previous population and giving form to local tribes such as the Cempsi or Sefes who maintained commercial relations with the Phoenicians. When Romans conquered the region at the end of the Punic wars, founded the Municipium Cives Romanorum Felicitas Julia and its citizens were given the privileges of Roman citizenship, included into the Roman Respublica as Olisippo and connected with the Lusitanorum roman way starting from Astorga and running all along the Atlantic Ocean coasts to end in modern Seville.

Within the reform of Augustus (see Roman Empire), Lisbon was part of the Lusitania province and the civitas became a main trading center with the other provinces of Britannia (in particular the Cornwall) and Belgica: economically strong, Olissipo was known for its garum food, wine, salt and horse-breeding, while Roman culture permeated the hinterland and the civitas was ruled by an oligarchical council dominated by two families, the Julia and the Cassiae, among the majority of Latin speakers living together with a large minority of Greek traders and slaves. The roman Lisbon was a point for the dissemination of Christianity and there have been several martyrs during the period of persecution of the Christians, at the point the civitas had become a notable Christian center and with the reform of Constantine I (see Christian Empire), Lisbon was eleved as important seat of the Catholic Diocesis of Hispania.

At the falling of Western Roman Empire, Lisbon was invaded by the Suebi who established their reign since 409 A.D. including all the northern Portugal and the roman province of Gallaecia until it was annexed to the Regna Visigothorum in 585 A.D. and renamed Ulishbona. With the Arabs conquer Lisbon became part of the Califfade Corduba/Cordova until 1147 A.D., when King Alfonso Henriques reconquered the city making it capital of the Regna Portugal ruled by the Aviz dinasty. The ancient Muslim influence is still visible in the Alfama district, an old quarter survived to the Lisbon earthquake, while it had been an independent Muslim kingdom (Taifa of Lisbon , 1022–1034 A.D.) and succcessively raided and occupied by Norwegians led by Sigurd I on their way to the Holy Land to participate in the Second Crusade. Crusaders helped the Reconquista of Portugal in recovering Christianity, as witnessed by one of the most significant events in Lisbon's history narrowed in the chronicle 'Expugnatione Lyxbonensi' which describes how the local bishop was killed while the city's residents prayed to the Virgin Mary and some of the Muslim residents converted to Roman Catholicism, all mosques were either destroyed or altered and converted into churches. As a direct consequence there had been the foundation of the first Portuguese university in Lisbon in 1290 A.D. by King Denis I, even if for many years the Studium Generale was transferred intermittently to Coimbra, where it was installed permanently in the XVI century A.D. as the University of Coimbra.

In 1384 A.D. Lisbon was besieged by Juan I King of Castille, at the clue of the ongoing iberian crisis, but the portuguese victory allowed the city to expand and became an important trading port with Northern European and Mediterranean cities: then, when the Spanish christian regna expelled the Jewish after the conquer of Granada, many of them fled to Lisbon contibuting to the city's prosperity. But king Manuel I decreed in 1497 A.D. that they all must convert to Christianity and only those who refused were forced to leave after the expropriation of their property, 4,000 of converted descendants of Sephardic Jews were killed in an anti-semitic movement among the Old Christians of Lisbon culminated in a massacre. That was the Age of Discovery set out from Lisbon led by Vasco da Gama's expedition to India at the end of XV century A.D. and the following years saw the Lisbon's golden era: the city was the European hub of commerce between Africa, India, Far East and Brazil, and acquired great riches by exploiting the trade in spices, slaves, sugar, textiles and other goods. This period had been signed by the exuberant Manueline style in architecture, which left its mark in many monuments such as the Lisbon's Belém Tower and Jerónimos Monastery, ordered bythe king to serve Portuguese discoverers.

The succession crisis of 1580 initiated a sixty-year period of subregna under the Spain kings of Habsburgs (referred to as the 'Philippine Dominion') and in 1589 A.D. Lisbon was the target of an incursion by the English Armada led by Sir Francis Drake, while Queen Elizabeth I supported a Portuguese pretender in Antonio, Prior of Crato. It followed the Portuguese Restoration War, began with a coup d'état organised by the nobility and bourgeoisie in Lisbon in 1640 A.D., which restored Portuguese independence under rule of the Braganza dinasty. Thanks to the colonial wealth and gold, in early 18th century A.D. King John V sponsored the building of several Baroque churches and theatres in Lisbon to recover the several significant earthquakes happened before until the bad one in November 1755 A.D., that destroyed 85% of the city and killed an estimated 40,000 residents, when Lisbon was one of the largest cities in Europe and that catastrophic event shocked and left a deep impression on the continental collective psyche. The city was rebuilt largely according to the plans of Prime Minister S.J. de Carvalho e Melo so the lower town began to be known as the Baixa Pombalina (Pombaline central district): he decided to move the house for the Kings of Portugal to the new Palace of Ajuda and to demolish the medieval town and rebuild the Lisbon centre in accordance with the principles of modern urban design, reconstructed in an open rectangular plan with two great squares in the Praça do Rossio and the Praça do Comércio.

During the Napoléon epoch Portugal was invaded, forcing the kings to flee temporarily to the great colony of Brazil, while many of the Lisbon buildings and properties were pillaged, sacked or destroyed by the invaders. After that, the Liberal movement introduced new changes into the urban landscape as well as the development of industry and commerce determined the growth of the city, seeing the transformation of the Passeio Público, a Pombaline era park, into the Avenida da Liberdade, as the city grew farther from the Tagus. In 1908 A.D. in Lisbon was killed king Carlos I, an event culminated 2 years later in the establishment of the First Republic of Portugal proclamed in the capital: then the city refounded its university after centuries, incorporating reformed former colleges and other non-university higher education schools of the city (such as the Escola Politécnica, now Faculdade de Ciências), while today there are 2 public universities in the city (University of Lisbon and New University of Lisbon), a public university institute (ISCTE - Lisbon University Institute) and a polytechnic institute (IPL – Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa). During the 'Estado Novo' regime (1926–1974), under the influence of the Minister of works D. Pacheco, Lisbon was expanded at the cost of other districts within the country, resulting in nationalist and monumental projects, new residential and public developments were constructed: the zone of Belém was modified for the Portuguese Exhibition (1940 A.D.), while along the periphery new districts appeared to house the growing population and the inauguration of the bridge over the Tagus allowed a rapid connection between both sides of the river.

In the Nineties of XX Century, many of the Lisbon districts were renovated and projects in the historic quarters were established to modernise those areas: architectural and patrimonial buildings were restored, the Vasco da Gama Bridge was constructed and the eastern part of the municipality was re-purposed for Expo '98, commemorate the 500th anniversary of the explorer's sea voyage to India, which brought immense riches to Lisbon and led to the construction of many of Lisbon's landmarks. Unfortunately, in 1988 A.D. a fire in the historical district of Chiado saw the destruction of many Pombaline style buildings, even if a series of restoration works has brought the area back to its former self and made it a high-scale shopping district. The Treaty of Lisbon, which forms the constitutional basis of the European Union, was signed at the Jerónimos Monastery in 2007 A.D..

Today Lisbon is the capital and most populous city of Portugal and of Lisbona district, enjoys a good climate that makes the city visitable by tourists all year long. The city lies in the western portion of the Iberian Peninsula, on the northern shore of the River Tagus, and the western portion of its area, the Portuguese Riviera, hosts the westernmost point of Continental Europe, culminating at Cabo da Roca on the Atlantic Ocean. The westernmost part of Lisbon is occupied by the Monsanto Forest Park, one of the largest urban park in Europe which takes up 10% of the municipality. The larger Lisbon metropolitan area includes the Setúbal Peninsula to the south, while its municipality includes 53 freguesias among whose Belem, Benfica, Estrela, Olivais, Parque das Nações and Sao Vicente, that Lisbon's inhabitants call "Bairros de Lisboa" (neighbourhoods) as communities with no clearly defined boundaries represent distinctive quarters of the city that have in common a historical culture. Notable are Alcântara situated along the northern bank of the Tagus River where mostly farms and country estates of the nobility built their palaces, like Palácio da Ega now hosting the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino, Palácio Condes da Ribeira Grande now hosting the MACAM museum, Palácio Burnay, Palacete do Conde de Burnay now housing the public library ('biblioteca de Alcântara') and Palácio Vale-Flor. Lisbon has two sites listed into UNESCO World Heritage together with Belém Tower and Jerónimos Monastery. Lisbon is rich in architecture of Romanesque, Gothic, Manueline, Baroque, Modern and Postmodern constructions, crossed by historical boulevards and monuments along the main thoroughfares, particularly in the upper districts. The monument to 'Cristo-Rei' (Christ the King) stands on the southern bank of the Tagus River, in Almada, it resembles the Corcovado of Rio de Janeiro, was built after the Second World War as thanksgiving for Portugal's being spared the horrors and destruction of the war. Patron of Lisbon is Vincent of Saragossa (also known as Vincent Martyr, Vincent of Huesca or Vincent the Deacon), the Protomartyr of Spain and deacon of the Church of Saragossa, whose relics were exumed by King Alfonso I and buried in to the Lisbon Cathedral. This transfer of the relics is depicted on the coat of arms of Lisbon.

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