Guided tour

Guided visit by Paulo Almeida Fernandes, art historian (Museum of Lisbon).

D. Manuel I is responsible for some of the landmarks that are still part of Lisbon's brand image. Lisbon’s enhanced value was driven by the king, aware of Portugal’s need, as a global power, to possess a grand city to act as a focal point for a vast political and economic domain, both nationwide and worldwide. 

The central place of Lisbon in world geography, a role which expanded with each new sea voyage, was partly behind the King’s efforts to centralise the administration of his kingdom and empire in the city, a process which included the institution of a monopoly over the African slave trade (1512).