This painting is a work by Carlos Galvao, a Portuguese artist who is an expert in oil and acrylics on canvas. This painting was done in 2014, and it is downloadedfrom the artist’s website. It portrays with great details an aerial view of the city of Lisbon. It shows one of the banks of the river Tajo, where we can see the famous Market Square, known for being the most important square of Lisbon.

Lisbon is the largest city and the capital of Portugal. It is located at the mouth of the Tajo River. The city has a population of 547,773 habitants and is the richest of the country. It is located in West Portugal, facing the Atlantic Ocean, and is one of the warmest European capitals. The spring and summer are usually sunny with highs around 28°C during July and August and minimum of about 16°C in Autumn. Thw winters are typically rainy and windy, with some sunny days. The climate of Lisbon is strongly influenced by the Gulf Stream so the temperatures are milder with abundant rainfall.

The place represented in the painting has always been the best entrance to Lisbon. Many kings and important people arrived there by boat, got down from their ships and went in the city by the marble stairs that we can still see in the square rim. Another thing that I consider important is the earthquake that Lisbon suffered in 1775 and claimed the lives of between 60,000 and 100,000 people. The city was almost completely destroyed and many buildings were reconstructed, including the Market Square.

We can appreciate in the painting a boat as a way of transportation and crossing the river but there are also two bridges: the Bridge of April 25, and the bridge Vasco de Gama. For the inside Lisbon has five tram lines, four of which have antique look so they attract many tourists. We can also highlight several religious buildings such as the church of Santa Luzia, the monastery of St Vincent de Fora and Lisbon Cathedral, all of them with great importance.

Finally, on the right of the picture, we can see the most impressive building in this drawing, the National Pantheon, also known as the Church of Santa Engracia. Since the early 20th century, this building served as a burial place for famous and important people from Portugal. The most remarkable fact is the architecture of the Pantheon is its large white dome, which stands majestically between the roofs of Alfama and can be seen from some of the viewpoints of the district, as the Mirador de Santa Lucía.

María del Carmen Lázaro Álvarez