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Convento dos Inglesinhos
Travessa dos Inglesinhos 46 / Rua Luz Soriano
Bairro Alto / 5 minutes from Principe Real
An architectural work built in the second quarter of the
17th century, St, Peter and St. Paul's College, known as Convento
dos Inglesinhos, represents a vestige of the subsisting cultural
and spiritual link between Portugal and England, in the course
of History.
lt is in the midst of an atmosphere of social and religious
struggles that, throughout the first half of the 17th century,
the initiatives to protect the English catholics living in
Portugal and simultaneously to intensify and consolidate the
faith threatened by the reformation movements, appear.
Undoubtedly, that was the spirit that impelled D. Pedro Coutinho
when he decided to have this Seminary built in Lisbon in order
to receive priests and students, all of them worthy, good
natured and intelligent young men, which would later return
to England to consolidate catholicism.
According to the decision issued by Pope Gregorious XV. St.
Peter and St. Paul's College was settled, by the end of 1622,
at the top of St. Catarina hill, during a petiod of great
development in west Europe as far as maritime trade centres
are concerned. Father Nicholas Ashton, chaplain of the English
colony in Lisbon and friend of the foundcr Pedro Coutinho,
made the first effort to organise the Collcgc. Reverend Joseph
Harvey was appointed first president, but it was only under
Thomas Blacklow's direction that the college opened its doors
to the first ten seminarists, coming from Douai.
The distinguished St. Peter and St. Paul's College received
not only prominent figures of the Counter Reformation, among
which Father William Lloyd and Father Thomas Blount, but also
remarkable leaders, such as Dr. Russel, which in 1660, contributed
to the reestablishment of the diplomatic alliance between
both countries.
The founder of St. Peter and St. Paul's College, buried in
the main chapel, early expressed, through testamentary vows,
the will that the building should be protected by Santa Casa
da Misericórdia de Lisboa. This way only materialized
in 1982, when the Institution bought the property.
The earthquake of 1755 greatly affected the building, giving
rise to some reconstruction and restoration work in the late
18th century, which changed its original conception.
Protected in the surrounding area by a high wall, the complex
has sober convent-like-façades embrasures decorated
with heavy framework, guillotine-like windows, some of them
protected by wrought iron grilles.
The façade of the church is simple, with an inscription
and a coat-of-arms on the portico, two windows with grilles
and, at the top, a round window open on the pediment. The
interior of the church is vast, closed with a round vaulting,
blending well two choir balconies and in the chancel there
is a central throne, four niches and a round stained glass
on the pediment. Walls and ceiling are decorated with stucco
imitating mable and the pavement is made of stone and wood
planks.
The vestibule, the main staircase and the refectory are adorned
with glazed tiles of very good artistic quality and great
decorative interest.The object of reopening to the public
of St. Peter and St. Paul's Collage is to stress „o renascer
de um espaço“ (the rcvival of aspace), that is
the starting point for further works of
rehabilitation and vivification of this patrimonial complex,
which has undergone, along the years, a process of deterioation
and several alterations.
The Convent was transformed into condominiums
in the past years and is now one of the most fashionable
adresses in Lisbon.
Contact: Chamartin real estate, Phone: 218912425 |
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