Glory Elevator
Nuno Fox
Between 1884 and 1901, Lisbon witnessed the realization of a dream: the construction of a network of lifts and elevators that dared to overcome the steep hills that caused so much discomfort to Lisbon residents and suffering to animal-powered transport. Inspired by innovations imported from the United States and central Europe, and taking as an example the Bom Jesus de Braga funicular already in operation since 1882, the primitive vehicles were moved using water and steam counterweight mechanisms, which required frequent stops, especially in the summer months, when water was scarce.
The first to be designed was Glória, but Lavra (1884), on the opposite hill from Avenida da Liberdade, took on the honors of pioneering the capital. Two years later, on October 24, 1885, on the opening day of the Elevador da Glória, some of the city’s most important figures attended. Photographs and engravings from the time show some of the city’s most important figures, wearing high hats and formal suits, as they embarked on the inaugural journey of the Restauradores to Bairro Alto. Some used the uncovered upper floor, the “Imperial”, which characterized Glória’s car at the time.
TOMAS ALMEIDA
A period of around 20 years began marked by the expansion of the network, with lines concessioned by the City Council to private companies, engineering works that would eventually spread across the hills and through some of the popular neighborhoods. Estrela, Chiado, Bica, Mouraria and Graça would now be served by elevators and lifts, some sometimes describing surprising curves for a technology designed for streets that tend to be orthogonal, causing astonishment, many mishaps and some accidents.
The last of the lines, the extinct route from Rossio to São Sebastião da Pedreira, was inaugurated when electrification, at the beginning of the 20th century, made the old technology of Lisbon’s elevators obsolete and outdated. The reign of the capital’s pioneering elevators ended, already nicknamed, in the Lisbon slang of the time, as “maximbombos”, “rotten things”, “falling from misery” and “falling across the city streets, squeaking desperately on the tortuous gutters”.
In this episode of ‘Lisbon Stories’, journalist Miguel Franco de Andrade talks to researcher João Firmino da Costa about the extraordinary journey of Lisbon’s elevators and lifts.
Histórias de Lisboa is a weekly podcast by SIC journalist Miguel Franco de Andrade with sound design by Salomé Rita and generic by Nuno Rosa and Maria Antónia Mendes. The cover is by Tiago Pereira Santos on tiles from the kitchen of the City Museum – Palácio Pimenta.
Follow us on Instagram at stories.of.lisbon.