Santa Catarina, Lisbon
Santa Catarina is a former parish in the municipality of Lisbon, Portugal. At the administrative reorganization of Lisbon on 8 December 2012 it became part of the parish Misericórdia. Its area is 0.21 km2, and its population exceeds 4081 inhabitants.
History
The civil parish was instituted in on October 9, 1559, when it was de-annexed from the neighbouring parishes of Loreto caused controversy by removing many of the emblematic infrastructures of the parish. This included, specifically, the de-annexation of the area around the Miradouro do Alto de Santa Catarina, an area considered a historical link to the areas past, and which provided in the 16th-17th Centuries assisted the patrol of the Tejo River.Many figures linked to the cultural or political life of the city lived for a time in the parish, including Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage, Almeida Garrett, Alexandre Herculano and Camilo Castelo Branco. Also, in 1847 Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho was born, a champion of women's rights, who affirmed,
Geography
The parish is part of a mountainous area, part of the Bairro Alto, that descends south toward the Tejo, and west to toward the parish of São Bento, cutting the Calçada do Combro, supposedly the principal roadway in the formation of Lisbon, and where today is concentrated the largest group of architecturally significant buildings in the region. In the northern part of the parish is a scattering of small shops, artesian businesses, typo-graphs with a long tradition of influence on political life, bistros and coffee shops, while closer to the river, there are fewer businesses.Architecture
Santa Catarina is a nucleus of a rich heritage of architecture, not just in quantity, but also in the importance historically. Most of the buildings, if not the facades, are representative of the 18th Century-style construction, while many religious sanctuaries have longer histories.Civic
Palácio Pombal Palácio do Cunhal das Bolas Palácio dos Condes de Mesquitela Palácio Flor da Murta Chafariz da Rua do Século Palácio Cabral Edifício Lançada - Edifício de "O Século" Palácio Paiva de Andrade Palácio Braamcamp Palácio Perry Linde Palácio dos Marqueses das Minas Palácio Marim Olhão Palácio dos Marqueses de FicalhoReligious
Igreja da Santa Catarina Ermida dos Fiéis de Deus Ermida da Ascensão de Cristo Convento dos Inglesinhos - also known as the Colégio de São Pedro e São Paulo Convento dos Caetanos - home to the ''Conservatório Nacional''Notable citizens
- Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo - 1st Count of Oeiras, 1st Marquis of Pombal, 18th Century Portuguese statesman, Minister of the Kingdom in the government of Joseph I of Portugal from 1750 to 1777; the most prominent government official, de facto head of government, notable for his leadership in the aftermath of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, who implemented sweeping economic policies to regulate commercial activity and standardize quality, and instrumental in the weakening of the Inquisitionin Portugal;
- Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage was a Neoclassic poet, who wrote under the pen name Elmano Sadino and is generally known for his baudy, rude prose;
- Almeida Garrett a poet, playwright, novelist and politician; considered to have introduced the Romanticism to Portugal, with his epic poem Camões, based on the life of Luís de Camões;
- Alexandre Herculano, was a novelist, historian and a constitutional Liberal with convictions on political Catholicism and Christianity;
- Camilo Castelo Branco, was a prolific 19th Century writer, who authored over 260 books ;
- Ramalho Ortigão, was a 19th-century writer, who at one time battled Antero de Quental and Questão Coimbrain modern literature, but later joined the Geração de 70 as it promoted Portuguese culture;
- Gonçalves Crespo, was a Brazilian-born poet, deeply informed by Parnassianism;
- Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho was a writer and feminist, who wrote short stories, essays, biographies, and literary criticism;
- Abel Manta, was an architect, painter, designer and cartoonist;
- António Quadros, was a philosopher, writer, translator and university professor.