Saturday, March 15, 2025

Regime of the Dictator

Today I visited the Resistance Museum, the Aljube. The name is from the Arab “al-jubb” meaning “well without water”, in other words a prison. I’ve visited this before, but there is so much to take in. I couldn’t manage it all before, and I couldn’t now.

The following pics give a flavour of what it’s like:






It’s on many floors: you just have to keep climbing the stairs. In the past, there was a cafe on the top floor (which you needed!) but not any more. There is a really nice view over the Cathedral towards the River Tagus:



The place was once used by Salazar, who ruled Portugal as a dictator from 1926 till his death in 1970, to imprison his political opponents. It is now a chronicle of the resistance to the regime.

An illicit printing press:



Fake documents:




Secret meetings of the Resistance:





Testaments of prisoners:



A little cell for solitary confinement, measuring only 1x 2 m:



On 25 April 1974, the regime was overthrown in the “carnation uprising”:



Celebrations at the Carmo Convent, where I was yesterday:




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