page_title: Ribeira Palace
section_title: Brigantine era
hierarchical_section_title: Ribeira Palace / History / Brigantine era
caption_attribution_description: English: 18th century from the harbour by Guillaume Debrie (2)
context_page_description: Ribeira Palace was the main residence of the Kings of Portugal, in Lisbon, for around 250 years. Its construction was ordered by King Manuel I of Portugal when he found the Royal Alcáçova of São Jorge unsuitable. The palace complex underwent numerous reconstructions and reconfigurations from the original Manueline design, ending with its final Mannerist and Baroque form.
  The Ribeira Palace, as well as most of the city of Lisbon, was destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. After the earthquake, the reigning monarch, King José I, suffered from claustrophobia and chose to live the rest of his life in a group of pavilions in the hills of Ajuda, and thus the palace was never rebuilt.
  Today, Lisbon's primary square, the Praça do Comércio, is situated on the site of the former palace. The square is still popularly referred to as the Terreiro do Paço, reminiscent of the now destroyed royal residence.
context_section_description: Another King to improve the Palace was John V, who invested great sums – derived from the gold mines in colonial Brazil – to enlarge and embellish the Ribeira Palace. The original manueline chapel was turned into a magnificent baroque church, and the Palace gained another wing for the Queen, parallel to the previous one, commissioned to the Italian Antonio Cannevari. Later in the century, King Joseph I built a Royal Opera House by the Palace, designed by the Italian Giuseppe Bibiena.
  The Ópera do Tejo, inaugurated in 1755, lasted only a few months. On 1 November 1755, a huge earthquake, and resulting tsunami and fire destroyed the palace and most of Lisbon. The 70,000-volume royal library housed within the palace, as well as hundreds of works of art, were lost. The royal archives disappeared together with detailed historical records of explorations by Vasco da Gama and other early navigators. King Joseph I was not at the palace and survived. His Prime Minister, the 1st Marquis of Pombal, coordinated a massive reconstruction effort that would give rise to the Pombaline Downtown of Lisbon. The royal family abandoned the Ribeira area and moved to palaces in the areas of Ajuda and Belém.
  The old Palace Square (Terreiro do Paço) gave rise to a new square, the Pombaline Commerce Square (Praça do Comércio). The two towers at the corners of the square are still reminiscent of the old tower of the Ribeira Palace.
caption: Ribeira Palace of the Brigantine era was a vast and modern palatial complex, including an opera and cathedral.
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