On 26 January 1531, the city of Lisbon was struck by a catastrophic earthquake that left an indelible scar on the Portuguese capital.
With a magnitude estimated between 7.1 and 7.6, the tremors ravaged the city, toppling buildings, collapsing churches, and reducing entire neighbourhoods to rubble.
Fires broke out in the aftermath, exacerbating the destruction and claiming more lives.
Contemporary accounts describe the ground heaving violently, the Tagus River behaving erratically, and terrified citizens fleeing in desperation.
The devastation was immense, with an estimated 30,000 people perishing in the disaster.
The calamity left Lisbon traumatised, highlighting the vulnerability of medieval urban centres to natural disasters and foreshadowing the even greater earthquake of 1755 that would later redefine the city's history.
