Museu Archeologico do Carmo

No other Lisbon museum so well conveys the sensation that you've wandered into a living relic and witness to history. Here, the ruined nave of a church, originally built in 1389, stands in a state of partial collapse -- a victim of damages wrought during the great earthquake of 1755 when many parishioners died inside. Some back rooms contain a dusty collection of exhibits, such as historic azulejos (glazed tiles), but the star of the museum is the church itself. Unlike several nearby monuments, the church was not rebuilt but somehow survived despite further indignities inflicted upon it over the years, including vandalisms by French soldiers occupying Lisbon during the Napoleonic wars. To many Lisboans, it's the most visible symbol of the 1755 earthquake, the single monument that most aggressively piques their sense of history and sense of loss.

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