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GPS 38.70897213081061, -9.134201758563673

The Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição Velha, also known as the Church of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, is a church located in downtown Lisbon, on Rua da Alfândega, near Praça do Comércio, in the parish of Santa Maria Maior.

The church combines several architectural styles, resulting from the reconstruction carried out after the 1755 earthquake, when most of the city's buildings were destroyed. The current configuration resulted from the reconstruction after the earthquake of the old Church of Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia de Lisboa, headquarters of the first Misericórdia in the country.

Its façade is, together with the Jerónimos Monastery and the Belém Tower, one of the best Manueline structures that survived the great earthquake.

It has been classified as a national monument since 1910.

History

The primitive church on the site, the Church of Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia, was the second largest temple in Manueline Lisbon after the Jerónimos Monastery, in Belém. It had been built by order of King Manuel I and completed in 1534, as the seat of the Misericórdia established in 1498 on the initiative of Leonor de Viseu, his sister and widow of King John II of Portugal, and his confessor Friar Miguel Contreiras. When the temple was destroyed by the earthquake, the salvaged elements were incorporated into the new building, which was renamed Conceição Velha.

With the earthquake, the Church of Conceição dos Freires also collapsed, which D. Manuel had donated in 1502 to the friars of the Order of Christ. This church was established in the place of the synagogue after the extinction of the Judiaria Grande in 1496. The denomination Igreja da Conceição, passed to the new rebuilt church.

In the Pombaline interior, with only one nave, the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament of the former Igreja da Misericórdia corresponds to the main altar. In the chancel there is a painting with a dedication to Nossa Senhora do Restelo, offered by Infante D. Henrique to the friars. The interior of the church was rebuilt in the 18th century and is decorated with tiles and worked stucco. Authorship is by Francisco António Ferreira Cangalhas and Honorato José Correia.

The Brotherhood of Mercy was transferred to the Jesuit Church of São Roque. It received this name to differentiate it from the church of Conceição Nova. It belonged to Misericórdia until 1768 and until 1834 the Friars of Christ had it as their temple.

Rehabilitation

Detail of the eardrum In October 2013, Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa announced an investment of 1.1 million euros in its rehabilitation. Restoration works advanced in early 2014 and on the 8th of December of that year the “new” church opened its doors again.