Casa dos Bicos

The Casa dos Bicos was built in 1523 for Brás de Albuquerque, son of the governor of Portuguese India, and its front is faced with over a thousand pyramidal stones cut to points - a diamond-rustication treatment borrowed from Italian palaces and unique in Lisbon at that scale. The 1755 earthquake took off the upper two floors, which stayed missing until a 1980s restoration rebuilt them, deliberately in a simplified form so the old and new are distinguishable. Excavation during that work exposed Roman fish-salting tanks and a stretch of medieval city wall in the basement, both visible now. Since 2012 the building has housed the José Saramago Foundation, with an exhibition on the Nobel laureate's life and work; his ashes are buried under an olive tree outside, with a line from Memorial do Convento on the stone.

History

By 1506 Afonso de Albuquerque, the first governor of Portuguese India, had buildings here, and his son Brás de Albuquerque, who went to Italy in 1521 and saw its new Renaissance architecture, built the house with its façade of spikes. The 1755 earthquake wrecked the main façade and two floors, a fishmonger bought the house at auction in 1827, and the city council acquired it in the 1960s (Wikipedia, Casa dos Bicos).

The main sights

• The spiked facade - over a thousand diamond-cut stones, unique in Lisbon.
• The 1980s rebuild - upper floors restored in simplified form after 1755 losses.
• The excavation - Roman salting tanks and medieval wall in the basement.
• The Saramago foundation - an exhibition on the writer, with his ashes outside.

When to go

Year-round. Forty-five to ninety minutes. Closed on Sundays. The ground floor with the excavation can be seen without the exhibition ticket.

Before you go

Small - the exhibition occupies a couple of floors. Material is mostly in Portuguese with partial English. The upper storeys are a modern reconstruction, not original. The square outside is a busy traffic area.

Nearby

Praça do Comércio is west; the cathedral and Alfama are uphill.

Key facts