Did you know that Amália was born in Arroios or that the Praça do Chile once had a fountain in the center of the roundabout? If you are curious and have the desire to know more about Arroios, you can find in this section some of the most surprising historical facts about the parish. Discover them!
The Arroios Parish has the oldest municipal library in Lisbon, the Biblioteca de São Lázaro.
Arroios is an area of residential and mixed buildings, built in the period before 1919 and up to 1970.
The name of the Arroios parish evokes the many water courses that existed here.
The building of the Fábrica de Cerâmica da Viúva Lamego, located in Largo do Intendente Pina Manique, is classified as a property of public interest.
The Escola Secundária de Camões, founded in 1902, is one of the country’s schools of reference and is located in the Arroios parish since 1909.
The Arroios parish has about 57 kilometers of urban roads, which in comparative terms corresponds to the round trip distance between Lisbon and Sintra.
The territory of the Arroios parish results from the merger of the territory of the old parishes of Anjos, Pena and São Jorge de Arroios.
There are some buildings in the parish by the architect Cassiano Branco, among which stands the building of the former Cinema Império.
In 2014, the Casa dos Estudantes do Império turned 70 years old since its inception, and which was the meeting point for students from the former Portuguese colonies. It is located on the corner of Av. Duque de Ávila with Rua Dona Estefânia.
The Escola Secundária Dona Luísa de Gusmão has several paintings from the 50s and 60s.
The Clube Estefânia has a theater where unforgettable names such as Eunice Muñoz have acted on.
Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, former Portuguese prime-minister, lived in Arroios.
The Mercado de Arroios was classified as a building of cultural interest in the late 1980s.
Escola Secundária de Camões has been classified, since 2012, as a monument of public interest.
The Escola Básica Nº1 de Lisboa was built in the reign of King Luis, in 1875.
The Escola Secundária de Camões has copies of physics and natural sciences manuals that are not available in any other institution of the country.
The Estefânia Atlético Clube, an association of the parish, was founded in 1939.
The Escola Secundária Dona Luísa de Gusmão has a decorative panel, allusive to queen Dona Luísa de Gusmão, by the Alentejo painter Severo Portela.
The Anjos station of Lisbon’s Metropolitan opened to the public in 1966.
“The Cross of Arroios” is a piece that was originally in Largo de Arroios and is currently next to the Igreja Paroquial de São Jorge de Arroios.
The Estefânia Mansion is an early 20th century building built by Henrique Maufroy de Seixas.
The sculpture of Neptune on the fountain of Largo de D. Estefânia was once placed at Largo do Chiado, where it was originally erected.
The Mercado de Arroios was inaugurated on February 28, 1942.
According to the 2011 Census, 4131 immigrants live in Arroios, representing 14% of the total immigrant population of Lisbon.
Going up Avenida Almirante Reis, on the right side, there is a street set whose toponymy evokes the former Portuguese colonies.
One of the streets of the parish is named after Francisco Lázaro, a Portuguese athlete.
The Feira da Ladra ran from 1835 to 1882, in Campo de Santana, currently designated as Campo dos Mártires da Pátria.
The big building located next to Praça do Chile was once a Jesuit college.
The Avenida Almirante Reis was once known as Avenida Dona Amélia.
The name of Jardim Constantino is a tribute to Constantino José Marques de Sampaio e Melo, one of the greatest florists in Portugal, known as the King of Florists.
Amália Rodrigues was born in Arroios, specifically in Rua Martim Vaz.
Praça do Chile once had a fountain in its center.
In the Praça do Chile there is a statue of Fernão de Magalhães, the Portuguese navigator who undertook the first circumnavigation trip. This statue was gifted by the Chilean government.
The Arroios Military Institute was intended to receive, treat and professionally retrain mutilation victims from the First World War.
The Camões bust, at the entrance of Escola Secundária de Camões, was commissioned on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the publication of The Lusiads.
Nobel literature laureate José Saramago studied at the old No. 14 elementary school that is currently located in another building, and is called Escola Básica “O Leão de Arroios”.
The bullring at Campo de Sant’ana was inaugurated in 1831, where currently stands the Faculdade de Ciências Médicas.
The artery that connects the Rua Nova do Desterro to Largo do Mastro, currently Rua do Saco, began as a dead end that was designated as Beco do Saco.
The Picoas station is one of 11 stations belonging to the first phase of construction of the Metropolitano de Lisbon network and opened to the public in 1959, when the network was inaugurated.
At the Mercado do Forno do Tijolo, there is a staircase decorated with murals of tiles with typical figures of Lisbon traders from the 19th century.
Lisbon’s Municipal Slaughterhouse, built in 1863, was implanted in Largo do Matadouro (formerly Largo da Cruz do Tabuado and future José Fontana Square).
King João VI died in 1826, in the Palácio da Bemposta, where the Military Academy is located.
In the 50’s, the “Portugália” brewery opened a terrace where there was an open-air cinema on summer evenings named “Cine-esplanada Portugália”.
Writer José Gomes Ferreira lived in Calçada do Monte Agudo, currently Rua Heliodoro Salgado.
Writer Vergílio Ferreira became a teacher at Escola Secundária de Camões in 1959.
Fernando Pessoa lived with his aunt, from 1912 to 1914, in the building where is currently located the Externato Passos Manuel.
Luís Vaz de Camões was buried in Convento de Santana and his remains were transferred to the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos in 1880.
The current Faculdade Médica da Universidade Nova De Lisbon began as Real Escola de Cirurgia in 1825.
In the halls of the current Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, one can admire paintings by Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro, José Malhoa, Veloso Salgado, among other artists.
The Jardim Henrique Lopes Mendonça honors the writer, poet and playwright, author of the lyrics of the national anthem “A Portuguesa”.
The Largo de Santa Bárbara was known as “Fontainhas” due to the large amount of fountains, one of which received a municipal pipeline, in the Bica do Regueirão.
The Hospital de D. Estefânia, inaugurated in 1877, was born from a dream by Queen D. Estefânia to make a modern hospital for children.
In 1934, the former Escola Industrial de Artes Aplicadas António Arroio was founded in a building located on Rua Almirante Barroso.
The Lys cinema opened in 1930, at Avenida Almirante Reis, door number 20. Later, in 1973, it adopted the name Roxy cinema.
