Monuments

The first church built after the Founding of the Republic.

After the Catholic Church recognised the Fatima Apparitions in October 1930, it was decided that a new parish in Lisbon dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima would be created, and a new church erected; the first one to be built in Lisbon after the proclamation of the Republic in 1910.

In 1933, the project was commissioned to the architect Porfírio Pardal Monteiro, who the following year worked on it with the help of several collaborators. Built in 1936, the church was inaugurated in 1938 and awarded the Valmor Prize (The Valmor and Municipal Architecture Prize, which distinguishes architectural works in the city of Lisbon) that same year. Its construction marks a change in direction for all religious art in Portugal.

It is a church of great proportions, built in concrete, with a spacious interior in which the straight lines and the geometric forms stand out. It has four halls in each corner and three naves separated by high pillars of stonework, the first one occupied by the upper-choir, which is looked over by a painting of the coronation of the Virgin and topped off with a large organ, illuminated by stained glass.

The modernist style of Pardal Monteiro is complemented by the embelishment of the church, for which leading Portuguese artists of the time were hired. Of particular note are the stained-glass windows and mosaics by the painter Almada Negreiros, the mural paintings by Lino António and Henrique Freitas and also the sculptures by Leopoldo de Almeida, Anjos Teixeira and Francisco Franco, the latter being the author of the statues of the apostles on the main facade.

At the time the building generated lively controversy, with criticism launched by some conservative Catholic sectors due to the alternative aesthetic choices used in the project. However, the bishop of Lisbon came out in defence of what he described as a "modern and beautiful church".