Santa Catarina (Lisbon)

Santa Catarina
Civil Parish (Freguesia)
The scenic overlook of Miradouro da Santa Catarina, showing a view of the Tagus River and local neighborhoods
Official name: Freguesia da Santa Catarina
Name origin: Santa Catarina, Portuguese for Saint Catherine, referring to Catherine of Alexandria
Country  Portugal
Region Lisbon
Sub-region Lisbon
District Lisbon
Municipality Lisbon
Localities Avenida D. Carlos I, Calçada do Combro, Rua da Rosa, Rua da Santa Catarina, Rua do Poço dos Negros, Rua do Século
Landmarks Igreja da Santa Catarina, Igreja e Convento de Jesus, Jardim do Príncipe Real
Elevation 39 m (128 ft)
Coordinates 38°42′40.95″N 9°8′53.4″W / 38.7113750°N 9.148167°WCoordinates: 38°42′40.95″N 9°8′53.4″W / 38.7113750°N 9.148167°W
Lowest point Sea level
 - location Atlantic Ocean
 - elevation 0 m (0 ft)
Area .21 km2 (0 sq mi)
Population 4,081 (2001)
Density 19,526.3 / km2 (50,573 / sq mi)
LAU Freguesia/Junta Freguesia
 - location Largo Dr. António de Sousa Macedo, Santa Catarina, Lisbon
 - elevation 28 m (92 ft)
 - coordinates 38°42′39.22″N 9°8′59.75″W / 38.7108944°N 9.1499306°W
President Junta Maria Irene dos Santos Lopes (PS)
President Assembleia João Manuel Vidal Nabais (PS)
Timezone WET (UTC0)
 - summer (DST) WEST (UTC+1)
ISO 3166-2 code PT-
Postal Zone 1200-153 Lisboa
Area Code & Prefix (+351) 213 XXX XXX
Patron Saint Santa Catarina
Parish Address Largo Dr. António de Sousa Macedo
1200-153 Lisboa
Wikimedia Commons: Santa Catarina (Lisbon)
Website: http://jf-santacatarina.pt

Santa Catarina is a former parish (freguesia) in the municipality of Lisbon, Portugal. At the administrative reorganization of Lisbon on 8 December 2012 it became part of the parish Misericórdia.[1] Its area is 0.21 km², and its population exceeds 4081 inhabitants (density 19433 hab/km²).

History

Church of Saint Catherine of Alexandria peeking from between the 18th Century buildings of the Santa Catarina quarter of Lisbon

The civil parish was instituted in on October 9, 1559, when it was de-annexed from the neighbouring parishes of Loreto (which later became Encarnação and Mártires, and included a stretch of land descending from Principe Real to Boavista. Its territory was one of the more extensive urban areas and, until the end of the 20th Century, one of the most populous. Its history was linked to Portuguese discoveries in the 14th and 15th Century, and is characterized by a diverse historical, sociological and cultural influence that mingled the aristocratic and popular.

The administrative limits have suffered successive alterations, the last of which (1959) 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 (and the country) 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 (on Rua de São Boaventura) Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho was born (and also lived and died), a champion of women's rights, who affirmed,

"The women have power. It is necessary to take advantage of them in the works of our common civilization. It is necessary, before everything transforms the education of the woman. The first thing that a woman did not learn is that she should learn and think. Dominate her destiny, modify it when it is convenient, because a faculty can just have those whom rationalize and those who know."

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

Religious

Notable citizens

References

  1. ↑ Lei n.º 56/2012 (Reorganização administrativa de Lisboa). Diário da República, 1.ª Série, n.º 216. Accessed 25/11/2012.