The Igreja do Covento do Carmo [Church of the Convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel] designates a former Catholic convent and Gothic church whose construction began in 1389 and was subsequently destroyed by the Lisbon Earthquake and fire on November 1, 1755. The edifice was partially rebuilt until the Portuguese government ordered all male religious orders to leave the country in 1834 and confiscated their properties for sale to private individuals. What remains is the reconstructed shell of the former convent, including a stunning roofless nave. In 1864 the Association of Portuguese Archaeologists established in this space one of the first museums of art and architecture in Portugal. It houses a variety of archaeological and artistic artifacts gathered from Lisbon and other parts of Portugal, mostly religious in nature.
