Ajuda (Lissabon)

Ajuda is a Portuguese civil parish in the municipality of Lisbon. The population in 2011 was 15,617, in an area of 2.88 km².HistoryThe parish of Ajuda, situated between the beach area of Belém and the foothills of the Monsanto was a place that was not conditioned for agriculture. A legend tells of a shepherd experienced an apparition of the Virgin Mary while passing the area. News of the event spread rapidly, and the area was visited by the faithful, many of whom settled there around a chapel built at the site of the vision. The small sanctuary was eventually replaced by a church, and the number of pilgrims grew to include members of the upper class and high nobility, who attended religious services. Queen Catherine of Austria, the consort of King John III of Portugal, eventually visited and prayed at the church, influencing members of the nobility to build residences in the area.Ajuda became an ecclesiastical parish in 1551.During the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, Ajuda did not escape the destruction, losing many of the buildings constructed over the centuries. This included the Convento de Nossa Senhora da Boa Hora (Convent of Our Lady of the Good Hour), which was later reconstructed by the Augustine monks in 1756. The Royal Family too had to abandon the Palácio da Ribeira (Ribeira Palace), and began living, along the court, in the Quinta de Cima in Ajuda, initially in wooden buildings, locally called the Real Barraca (Royal Barracks).