Only in Lisbon

The Century-Old tree of Príncipe Real

The Príncipe Real Garden is a meeting point for many.

The Príncipe Real Garden is a meeting point for many. It's here that we find a century-old tree with many stories to tell – all of them recorded in a diary by the Misericórdia Parish Council.

We're talking about a "Buçaco cedar", which, in all accuracy, is actually a splendid cypress tree, whose canopy, instead of growing "upward", spreads out luxuriously to the sides, horizontally. This friendly tree is believed to have been planted when the Príncipe Real Garden was completed in 1869. That's over a century and a half ago!

The "Buçaco cedar" comes from the mountainous regions of Central America and was introduced to Portugal in the 17th century by the Barefoot Carmelites, who occupied the Buçaco Mountains region before the extinction of religious orders. Records show that it was in this mountain range, in 1644, that the barefoot monks planted a tree that would become famous, the Cedar of Saint Joseph, an ancient relative of the Príncipe Real cypress...

So, it's indeed a very old species that eventually found its way to Lisbon to delight all those who pass through the much-loved Príncipe Real Garden.