Basilica of Estrela

This guide to the Basilica of Estrela in Lisbon opens with a vow Queen Maria the First made in 1760, kneeling before a holy image and promising to build a church if she bore a son to carry on her dynasty. Her son José arrived a year later, and construction began in 1779 under architects Mateus Vicente de Oliveira and Reinaldo Manuel dos Santos, raising the dome, twin bell towers and ornate façade you see now. By 1788, as the basilica neared completion, José was a grown crown prince of twenty-seven, and Maria's reign was about to turn on the news that reached her that year.