Ajuda (Lisbon) - History

History

The parish of Ajuda, situated between the beach area of Belém and the foothills of the Monsanto was a place that was not conditioned for agriculture. A legend tells of a shepard, while crossing this zone had an apparition of the Virgin Mary. The news of this event spread rapidly, and quickly the area was visited by the faithful, many of whom came to live in the area. A chapel was constructed, and eventually other homes and huts. The small sanctuary was eventually replaced by a church, and the number of pilgrims grew year-after-year, even members of the upper-classes and high nobility appeared during religious services. Even D. Catarina, the wife of King John III of Portugal, appeared and prayed at the site, influencing members of the nobility to build residences in the area.

Ajuda became a religious parish in 1551.

During the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, Ajuda did not escape the destruction, losing many of the buildings constructed over the centuries. This included the Convento de Nossa Senhora da Boa Hora (English: Convent of Our Lady of the Good Hour), which was later reconstructed by the Augustine monks in 1756. The Royal Family too had to abandon the Palácio da Ribeira (English: Ribeira Palace), and began living, along the court, in the Quinta de Cima in Ajuda, initially in wooden buildings, locally called the Real Barraca (English: Royal Barracks).

The level of insecurity after the earthquake and tsunami forced many to install themselves in Ajuda; the population grew from 1059 inhabitants to 4748 residents. The village consisted of five separate agglomerations clustered around the roadways: Calçada da Ajuda (alongside Alcântara); Travessa da Estopa; Calçada de Nossa Senhora da Ajuda; Rua das Mercês and Rua da Paz.

In 1762, Ajuda became a part of the municipality of Lisbon, and dropped pretenses of a suburban locality. The parish was an agglomeration of houses, manors, quarries, earthen stoves and windmills. In 1768, the Marquis of Pombal, as part of his reconstruction initiatives, built the Botanical Gardens in the area of Horta da Quinta de Cima. It was also around that time, between 1766 and 1787, that Pina Manique had constructed the Ajuda Cemetery, where many of the Royal servants were buried. The Real Barraca was subsequently replaced by a grande palace, the Ajuda National Palace; the construction began in 1795, but its construction was interrupted by the French Invasion and subsequent escape of the Royal family to Brazil, but completed in the middle of the 19th Century. It would become the official residence of King D. Carlos.

Between 1852 and 1885 Ajuda became integrated into the municipality of Belem, but was re-inserted by the end of the 19th Century.

Since the late part of the 20th Century, the population has decreased, due to the exodus to the suburbs and periphery of the city.