Bairro Alto

Bairro Alto is a historic neighborhood in the center of Lisbon, belonging to the parish of Misericórdia and one of the best known internationally, largely thanks to its nightlife and famous bars and restaurants.

Its narrow streets, Pombaline buildings, many of them covered in tiles, as well as its wrought iron lamps, transport its inhabitants and visitors to past centuries.

The neighborhood experience has been energized, after a period of abandonment, largely due to the influence of Local Rentals and the tourists who choose to live here.

Its construction and current configuration dates back to the 16th century, after the Lisbon tsunami and earthquake of 1531.

It is bounded to the West by Rua do Século, to the East by Rua da Misericórdia, to the North by Rua D. Pedro V and to the South by Calçada do Combro, Largo do Calhariz, Rua do Loreto, and Largo de Camões. Bairro Alto is fully integrated into the parish of Misericórdia.

Since the 80s, it has been Lisbon's best-known nightlife area, with countless bars and restaurants, as well as fado clubs. Until the 70s and 80s of the 20th century, numerous press organizations were also located there. Since then, it has acquired a very unique and characteristic life, where different generations come together in search of nighttime entertainment.

Little by little it is also becoming clear that it has become sought after as a place to live, with its population being renewed and rejuvenated.

During the 19th century and until the third quarter of the 20th century, the neighborhood housed the headquarters of the country's main newspapers and printing presses. Even today it is possible to find echoes of that time in street names such as Rua Diário de Notícias or Rua do Século. This neighborhood of the capital, a stone's throw from Chiado, frequented and inhabited by journalists, writers, artists and students, was also a place for sailors' taverns, charcoal shops and places of ill repute and prostitution. Vitorino Nemésio alludes to this environment in the novel Mau tempo no canal.

The building where Diário de Notícias was born was later occupied by A Capital (daily closed in 2005), and is now known as Edifício A Capital. The Artistas Unidos theater company was based there for some years.

In 2013, Bairro Alto's 500th anniversary was celebrated, since the first geometric plan of Lisbon was authorized, when Lopo de Athouguia agreed with the aforadores, Bartolomeu de Andrade and his wife, Francisca Cordovil, to divide it into lots. For these celebrations, an extensive program was created, with permanent openness to proposals from interested parties, particularly from residents and other economic and cultural agents of Bairro Alto. The executive committee was constituted by the Bairro Alto Residents Association, Irmandade da Misericórdia e de S. Roque de Lisboa, Lisboa Club Rio de Janeiro, Museu da Farmácia and Associação Portuguesa de Livros Alfarrabistas, also counting on a wide range of partners.

Bairro Alto is currently a quiet and traditional neighborhood in Lisbon during the day, transforming from early evening into the main place for nightlife and a meeting point for different cultures and generations. It is known as the usual place of concentration for young foreigners who are in Lisbon studying under the Erasmus program.

Part of the buildings have been or are being recovered, maintaining their original design, which has allowed the installation of new and alternative commercial spaces, including reference stores (such as Leitão & Irmão, Jorge Welsh or Cork & Co) to multi-brand stores and ateliers (such as that of designer Fátima Lopes), including tattoo and piercing shops. On the other hand, the neighborhood probably has the highest concentration of restaurants and bars in Lisbon, attracting a very diverse public, both national and foreign.

Despite recent works, and the installation of surveillance cameras in some streets, however, the level of policing has increased significantly in recent times, and is usually safe until, at least, the bars' normal closing time. In fact, in the last two years there has been a sharp decrease in the crime rate in the neighborhood, contradicting the established idea that it was a place with a higher level of insecurity than normal.

Bairro Alto was classified as a Complex of Public Interest (CIP) in 2010.