MITRA HOSE, LISBON, MAY 1946
It was in Marvila, next to the pit of the bishop, and was the destination of thousands of beggars, prostitutes, dements and disabled motors in the time of the Estado Novo.
What today is just a term used as an insult, with the same intention of those who call poor, “penetrate”, marginal or “guna”, “MitraIt was in the past the space of the warehouses of the warehouses of an old cork factory.
The origin of the space dates back to 1566when Quinta da Mitra was performed perpetually to Morgado do Esporão. In the early seventeenth century, part of the property returned to Mitra, being used as Quinta de Recreio. In the second quarter of the eighteenth century, the Patriarch Cardinal of Lisbon recovered the Révoluto Palace and turned it into a subcurrent baroque building with private pier. The area, between the Mother God and the pit of the bishop, was noted by the palaces and convents.
Successive sales marked the history of the palace. In 1864 he was acquired by the Marquis of Salamanca and, ten years later, by Horatius Justus Perry, US diplomat married to the poet Carolina Coronado. After several changes from owner, the space was purchased in 1902 by António Centeno, remaining in possession of the family until 1911.
The asylum of Mitra, a human deposit
“It is urgent to put a term to similar abomination” wrote the century on October 10, 1932, quoted by. The newspaper referred to the “abundance of children of all ages, alms and bustling” in Lisbon, a year after being Criminalized Mendicity In Portugal, with order to “repression in the streets and public places” to print to society “a look of moral cleaning”.
Consistent with the narrative, in the twentieth century, the property of Mitra had a new destination. In 1930, after being adapted to the Factory Seixas, of casting and metallurgy, it was Acquired by the Lisbon City Council for 4,000 short storiesinitially to install a slaughterhouse. The idea did not advance and part of the space was used for the eastern cleaning station, while the old barracons gave way to Asylum from Mithras.
Asylum, inaugurated on May 4, 1933, was created by Colonel Lopes Mateus and was considered at the time a modeling institution – welcomed about 1,300 people of both sexes. It worked under the protection of the Public Security Police (PSP), which collected public road beggars for screening and referral. In theory, hospitalized should be sent to appropriate institutions, but the lack of response to state structures led to many Withdrawn without a date to go out in that “prison” without committing any crime.
Adults could go out for payment of a fine or escape, but children, old -fashioned, chronic patients and psychiatric patients eventually remain in space without proper treatment – it was, in the background, a human deposit.
What happened to MITRA
In the 1950s, “Mitra” was mainly dedicated to incurable psychiatric patients, functioning as rear equipment between 1952 and 1974. Only the cases considered treatable were sent to the reference psychiatric hospitals, such as Julio de Matos or Miguel Bombarda.
On May 31, 1977, the district hostel of begging was extinguished and placed under the protection of the State Secretariat of Social Affairs. The following year, he began to designate Lisbon Social Support Center, with two valences: Senior Age Center and Reception and Screening Service for referral to specialized institutions.
The 21st century brought a new stage. In 2014, the Lisbon City Council ceded the space to Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, which started a project of restoration and preservation. The goal was to eliminate the stigma associated with begging and create modern equipment. The space came to designate itself “Lisbon Social Mitra”.
Today, the “Mitra” is made up of two heritage value buildings: the Baroque Palace of the first Patriarch of Lisbon, used as a noble hall by the municipality, and the old Asylum, rehabilitated by the Santa Casa.
