Page:Lisbon and Cintra, Inchbold, 1907.djvu/69

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Some Principal Buildings

view, is a beautiful outlook over the eastern hills of the city and the valley. The light and colour strike one with new effect. The fashion of colouring the buildings in distinct hues, and of facing part of and sometimes the whole of many houses with porcelain tiles adds to the variety of hues, and intensifies the lustre of the sunlight glittering upon the massed congeries of hill and vale.

The vast block of buildings opposite the point of view is the noted Hospital of S. José, an institution founded in the fifteenth century, and removed to this edifice after the expulsion of the Jesuits who owned it, and after the original infirmary, Todos os Santos, had been demolished by the earthquake. It was named after the King, D. José I. To the left of it rises another fine new building, the Escola Medica or Medical College, erected on the site of the ancient Bull Ring. The whole of that fine Campo Santa Anna is now most delightfully laid out with artistic parterres of flowers, forming one of the most ambrosial, smiling and sunny places of the city. A street leads off the other end of the Campo containing an old palace, now a Military College, with the arms of England over the entrance. Catherine of Braganza, widow of our Charles II, built this palace of Bemposta—the name tells of its fine position—which would then have been in its own grounds, the belfry tower, now on the opposite side of the street, quite near the church which stands with its balcony and curved flights of steps, in the centre of the long, somewhat low building. The name of Quinta Velha—the Old Quinta—is still attached to the exercise ground of the College. Many interesting old mansions are to be seen in that northern quarter of the eastern heights, as well as substantially built modern ones with beautifully decorated and furnished interiors, dwelt in by some of the wealthiest and most respected families of Lisbon.

45