Penha de França () is a (civil parish) and typical quarter of Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal. Located in the historic center of Lisbon, Penha de França is north of São Vicente, east of Arroios, south of Areeiro, and west of Beato. The population in 2021 was 28,475.
History
The Madre de Deus Convent was founded in 1509 by Queen Leonor of Viseu, wife of D. João II.
The Convent of Penha de França, which lends its name to this parish, was founded in 1598. Its territory originated from several medieval parishes within Lisbon's jurisdiction: Santo Estêvão de Alfama, Santa Justa, and Olivais. Situated 110 meters above sea level, the convent offers sweeping city views. It is the resting place for many members of the Portuguese nobility, such as D. Inês de Távora, wife of Francisco de Távora, and it houses works by Portuguese painter .
In 1609, another convent was built, Santos-o-Novo, near the banks of the river Tagus. The convent was erected on the site of a 13th century monastery, built under the reign of D. João II.
In the 16th century, residential areas emerged around the convents, the Royal Palace, and the Mitra Palace (in Beato). In the 17th century, development centered around the Convent of Penha de França (now the General Command of the Polícia de Segurança Pública).
The 1755 earthquake led to the abandonment of many estates (including Pina, Coxo, and Bacalhau, among others) and manors (including Gadanho, Peixinhos, Alto da Eira, Santo António, and Machada) that were built in the area by Portuguese nobility.
Commissioned by Queen Maria II in 1833 following a cholera epidemic in Lisbon, the Alto de São João Cemetery served as the city's cemetery for over a century.
During the 19th century, factories sprang up in the valleys of Chelas and Xabregas, although the parish as a whole maintained a rustic character, especially in the less-populated areas away from the Tagus River. In fact, it remained a favored area for Lisbon residents to stroll, as described by Almeida Garrett in his 1846 work "" (lit. Travels through my land).
In 1854, the , serving Linha do Norte -- the most important railway line in Portugal -- was built. The structure consists of two sections: one with stone arches, spanning 36 meters, and a section with metal beams, extending another 15.6 meters. The metal beams were replaced in 1954.Portuguese Romantic artist Tomás da Anunciação painted , a notable landscape painting of 1857 housed in the National Museum of Contemporary Art. The work contributed to Anunciação's appointment as a permanent professor. The painting depicts a rural view of mid-19th-century Lisbon, highlighting the old convent on the hill of Penha de França, framed by trees, oxen, and a peasant woman. It was part of the former National Museum of Fine Arts and Archaeology's collection since 1884.
In 1891 the former Caracol da Penha was renamed to honor João Marques da Silva, a local merchant who contributed to its expansion. It is one of the oldest streets in the parish, having been known as Calçada da Penha de França since at least 1710.
Twentieth century
Vila Cândida, constituted of 140 apartments across 35 two-story buildings and constructed by Cândido Sotto Mayor, was built in 1912. The vila would be later be given by Elsa Sotto Mayor Matos to the residents in 1974, following the revolution.
In 1916, the former "Travessa do Caracol da Penha" was renamed (lit. Quionga heroes street) to commemorate the fighters who, during World War I, recaptured the Quionga Triangle in Mozambique from the Germans. During the war, around 7,500 Portuguese soldiers had died on the African front.
On April 13, 1918, the freguesia of Penha de França was officially established, with areas ceded by the neighbouring parishes of Beato, Santa Engrácia, and São Jorge de Arroios. The name of the parish comes from its patron saint, Our Lady of Penha de França. On the first census, the parish had a population of 12,555 (of whom 1.12% were foreigners, 51.75% were females, and 52.97% were literate).
In the 1920s the neighbourhoods of Andrade, Inglaterra (lit. England), and Colónias (lit. colonies) were built. They are nicknamed the "English neighbourhoods" because many of their streets are named after English cities such as Manchester; likewise, the "Colonies neighbourhood" has many streets named after former Portuguese colonies, such as Timor. Andrade is a Portuguese surname and the neighbourhood owes its name to the family of the entrepreneur who urbanised that part of the city, naming the streets after his wife and daughters.
The first crematorium in Portugal was built in the parish and opened in 1925; however, it closed in 1936 due to political pressures. The crematorium in the Alto de São João Cemetery was reopened in 1985.
Since 1929 an EPAL warehouse has been present in the Miradouro da Penha de França.In 1930, the was named after José Augusto Alves Roçadas, officer of the Portuguese Army and a colonial administrator. It is one of the main avenues of the parish, and it is the location of one of the largest workers' villages in Lisbon: Vila Cândida, dating from the late 19th century. The (lit. Afonso III avenue) opened to the public in 1932. The 1930 population census recorded 22,226 inhabitants in the parish, a +77.03% increase since 1920 (1.27% were foreigners, 55.01% were females, and 58.17% were literate). The parish continued to grow, registering a further population increase of 73% between 1930 and 1940. By the 1940 census, the parish had 38,455 inhabitants, a +73.02% increase since 1930 (of whom 1.27% were foreigners, 52.48% were females, 67.42% were literate, and 83.83% were Catholic). 881 residential buildings (or 36.33% of the parish's total buildings used for residential purposes) existing in 2021 were built between 1919 and 1945, coinciding with the demographic boom of this area of Lisbon.
In 1935 the Quartel da Penha de França was the site of an attempted revolt against Salazar's regime by the fascist Movimento Nacional-Sindicalista. After the failed coup, the movement's leader, Francisco Rolão Preto, was exiled and fought in the Spanish Civil War on Francisco Franco's side. In 1943 the was created in the parish. It is the unit within the with the mission of organizing, training, and maintaining the operational anti-aircraft artillery units of the Portuguese Army. It was later transferred to Queluz, where it has been hosted ever since, in barracks adjacent to the Palace of Queluz.
During 1948 the (lit. Prince Henry the Navigator avenue) opened. It is the largest avenue in Lisbon, stretching for 12 km along the river and passing through 7 parishes, amongst which there is also Penha de França.
The 1950 census was the last before the 1959 division of the parish in three separate entities. According to the 1950 census, the parish of Penha de França had 48,035 inhabitants, a +24.91% increase since 1930 (1.27% were foreigners, 53.16% were females, 72.88% were literate, and 90.09% were Catholic). With an area of little over 3 km2, the population density of the parish stood at around 15,700 inhabitants per square kilometer, almost 20 times the population density recorded for Hong Kong in 1950.
The parish was divided in 1959, creating the parishes of Alto do Pina and São João.
The parish has housed the National Museum of the Azulejo since 1965 in the Madre de Deus Convent.Decreto-Lei n.º 42 142, de 7 de fevereiro de 1959. Diário do Governo, I Série, n.º 32. Acedido a 10/12/2012. One of the last marriages celebrated in the church prior to its transformation into a museum was the one between businessman and billionaire Alexandre Soares dos Santos and Maria Teresa Canas Mendes da Silveira e Castro, in 1957.
After a surge in shanty towns in the 1960s, two government-funded residential towers, known as Torres do Alto da Eira, were built in 1973. They were designed by architects Francisco Silva Dias and Antonieta Silva Dias, and have a capacity to house 370 people in 132 dwellings. They are still owned by the municipality, where residents pay a controlled rent of €52.14 per month. Due to very poor maintenance, the two towers faced the risk of being demolished in 2008 but were later deemed to be recoverable; in 2012 the city council of Lisbon invested €4.5 million for the total rehabilitation of the dwellings and of the surrounding areas.
A fire in 1975 killed two people in the shanty town of Curraleira. Hosting a large Romani community and located on the eastern border of the parish (in the portion formerly part of São João), 69 shacks were also destroyed. In 2018 and 2023 two murals were painted to remember the accident, and a memorial cross was erected. The same year, some families built the Bairro do Horizonte, with far better conditions than the old sheds.
Tinturaria Portugália was the first of many industries to go bankrupt following a period of political instability and the independence of the last Portuguese colonies (namely Angola and Mozambique). The company had been established in the late 19th century and closed in 1976. All major industries would end up leaving Penha de França by 2000, due to bankruptcy or relocation outside the city's boundaries.
In 1983 the (lit. Olaias roundabout) opened. Further road construction resulted in the Viaduto de Santa Apolónia; this road opened in 1998 to better organise the traffic between the waterfront and the inner part of the parish, bridging the railway line "Linha do Norte".
To eradicate shanty towns and provide all residents with access to tap water, electricity, and sanitation, the Programa Especial de Realojamento (PER) was implemented in 1993. It was estimated that in 1993 almost 40,000 people lived in shanty towns in Lisbon (9.1% of the city population). Between 1993 and the early 2000s, more than 32,000 families and more than 132,000 people were relocated across the whole country; almost 1,000 slums were destroyed across 28 municipalities and almost 35,000 government-funded dwellings were built in their stead. In Lisbon, more than 9,000 public dwellings were built, totaling an investment of over €600 million. Penha de França received significant investment from the PER, which contributed to the construction of the neighbourhoods of Quinta do Lavrado and Bairro do Vale de Santo António between 2000 and 2001. A fire in July 2001 destroyed four shacks and underlined the importance of an immediate relocation of the residents.In 1993, 1,511 families in Penha de França lived in shanty towns; by 2013, twenty years later, that figure was down to just 30 families. The shanty towns were completely demolished shortly after the relocation was completed.
Twenty-first century
In 2009, to celebrate the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, 27 trees were planted in a roundabout in the parish, symbolizing the (at the time) 27 countries in the European Union.
With an administrative reform in 2012, the parish of São João merged into Penha de França. The parish nearly quadrupled its area and more than doubled its population; the change also brought into Penha de França a small strip of land previously belonging to the parish of Beato.
The dovecotes of the Curraleira neighbourhood, which had been used to train carrier pigeons, were demolished in 2014 to build an electricity substation in Alto de São João.
New spaces were added to Penha de França library during 2018, so that it had more than 5000 books available for public use. During 2019, the new bus line 37B began its route in the parish, connecting it to neighbouring Beato. A "street fest festival" was hosted in Alameda for a total of nine days.
In 2020, opened in the parish, the first facility offering higher education within the parish. It is an innovative school and, although private, is entirely funded by sponsors so no fees are charged to students.