Hospital Real de Todos os Santos

The Hospital Real de Todos os Santos (All Saints Royal Hospital) was a major hospital in Lisbon, Portugal. The hospital was built between 1492 and 1504 and was destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, along with most of the city.

In 1492, after obtaining papal approval, King John II ordered the building of one of the most important civil and charitative infrastructures in old Lisbon, the Hospital Real de Todos os Santos. The Hospital was finished in 1504, during the reign of King Manuel I. The construction of the Hospital was part of a Royal campaign to centralise the health assistance of the most important cities of the Kingdom into general hospitals. Large hospitals were also founded in Coimbra (1508), Évora (1515) and Braga (1520).

The main façade of All-Saints Hospital occupied the whole eastern side of Rossio Square. Today's Praça da Figueira (Fig Tree Square) is located over of the area occupied by the old Hospital.

Old descriptions and excavations indicate that the building had a groundfloor and two upper storeys and was organised into several square-shaped wings with central courtyards around the Hospital Chapel. The Chapel was located in middle of the ensemble and had a massive tower in the eastern end of the nave.

The main façade of the Hospital had an arched gallery with buttresses in its ground floor. The entrance of the Chapel was located in the middle of the Hospital façade and was reached by a monumental stairway. Contemporary drawings show that the portal of the Chapel was a notable work in Manueline style, the Portuguese version of late Gothic typical of King Manuel I's time.

The rules of the Hospital were granted by King Manuel I in 1504, and were based on the rules of contemporary hospitals in Florence and Siena. Initially the Hospital had three infirmaries (enfermarias) located in the upper storey, where the ill were treated. The groundfloor was occupied by the Hospital personnel (around 50 people, many of whom lived in the building). The first floor housed dependencies like the kitchen, refectory and pharmacy, as well as rooms for abandoned children (called expostos), beggars and the mentally ill.

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