Pombaline style

Pombal supervised the plans drawn up by the military engineers Manuel da Maia, Eugénio dos Santos and Elias Sebastião Pope [Wikidata] (later succeeded by Carlos Mardel).

These were in a notably restrained Neoclassical style partly the result of limited funds and the urgency of building but also thanks to the enlightenment concept of architectural rationality adhered to by Pombal.

A flexible wooden structure implanted on the walls, floors and roofs and later covered by pre-manufactured building materials "shakes but doesn’t fall."

The Rossio Square lost the old and destroyed Hospital de Todos os Santos, and remained the city "Forum", retaining its popular character despite the elegant new buildings.

The construction of new palaces were regulated and ostentatious designs were rejected (a very unpopular situation among the aristocracy),[citation needed] which allowed decoration only in the portal.

Single-room buildings with side altars, internal decoration following Rococo taste, simulated materials in wood and plaster, several paintings (Pedro Alexandrino de Carvalho made the best works) and a small number of sculptures was the norm.