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.

Old descriptions and excavations indicate that the building had a ground floor and two upper stories and was organised into several square-shaped wings with central courtyards around the Hospital Chapel.

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 first floor housed dependencies like the kitchen, refectory and pharmacy, as well as rooms for abandoned children (called expostos), beggars and the mentally ill.

The situation was worsened by the fact that the All Saints Hospital was greatly damaged, and the surviving patients and wounded by the quake were housed in undamaged convents and palaces.