Carmo Convent and Largo do Carmo

You are in one of Lisbon's most peaceful squares. It's hard to believe that two of the most dramatic moments in the city's history played out here.

1The Constable's convent

The convent was founded in 1389 by Nuno Álvares Pereira, the Constable who had secured Portugal's independence from Castile. In 1423 he laid down his arms, took the Carmelite habit in this convent and died here. The Church canonised him in 2009 as Saint Nuno of Saint Mary.

2The morning of the earthquake

On 1 November 1755, the earthquake and the fire that followed brought down the church's vaults. It was never fully rebuilt. In the nineteenth century, with the Romantic taste for ruins, the decision was made to leave the nave open to the sky. Since 1864 it has housed the Carmo Archaeological Museum.

325 April 1974

Look at the National Republican Guard barracks facing the fountain. During the Carnation Revolution, the head of government, Marcelo Caetano, took refuge inside. Troops under Captain Salgueiro Maia surrounded it while a crowd filled the square. That evening Caetano surrendered, ending the longest dictatorship in Western Europe.

The carnations the soldiers wore in their rifle barrels gave the revolution its name.

4What to look out for

• The roofless arches of the church, rising above the façade.
• The Carmo barracks, scene of the 1974 surrender.
• The Chafariz do Carmo, the eighteenth-century fountain in the middle of the square.