After returning from Italy, Brás de Albuquerque built the house on riverfront land inherited from his father. The diamond-point façade brought Italian Renaissance language into Lisbon.
XIAOXIONGMARKETLIS-003 / LISBOAEnglish
Old riverfront and Alfama
Casa dos Bicos
See light and shade on the pointed-stone façade. Discover the ruins below the glass walkways.
Before entering, confirm opening hours and visiting conditions with the venue.
CASA DOS BICOS · RUA DOS BACALHOEIROS01 / VERIFIABLE HISTORYFACTS BEFORE INTERPRETATION
It looks like an intact old house,
but it is an openly stated reconstruction.
Casa dos Bicos matters beyond its façade. A sixteenth-century journey, the collapse of 1755, a nineteenth-century warehouse, modern reconstruction and archaeology below ground together form its true identity today.
View the full timeline
The earthquake and ensuing fires destroyed the main façade and upper two floors. What we see today is not an uninterrupted sixteenth-century house.
The building was partly rebuilt and altered. For decades it served as a cod warehouse, moving a noble residence into the city's everyday trade.
Lisbon's city government restored the lost floors from historic images and gave the building a new public role for a European exhibition of art, science and culture.
The upper floors house the José Saramago Foundation. Archaeology below preserves Roman fish-processing tanks, old walls and remains from multiple ages of the city.
Historical sources and verification
Historical and image sourcesPatrimónio Cultural · official register ↗Lisbon City Council · city archive ↗José Saramago Foundation · current use ↗
CITY ANCHOR AUDIT · v1.0
FORMAL ANCHORLIS-003 · FORMAL AUDIT PASSED
Official source
Public heritage, government, archive or responsible-institution records have been checked.
Independent support
At least one separate institutional, professional or academic source corroborates the dossier.
Time and place
Key dates, coordinates and administrative location can be checked against public records.
Facts kept separate
Verified building history is clearly separated from Xiaoxiong's contemporary Eastern reading.
Accountable review
The reviewing team, audit date and next review date are publicly recorded.
CAMADAS DE LISBOA · ARCHAEOLOGICAL NUCLEUS02 / WHAT TO LOOK FOR
See light and shade on the pointed-stone façade.
Discover the ruins below the glass walkways.
In the square, pointed stones cut sunlight into a dense pattern of light and shade. Inside, Roman tanks, walls and an older shoreline emerge below glass walkways. The façade projects identity; the ground below opens time.
A city never has only one face; it keeps many layers beneath our steps.
Another perspective on this building
Casa dos Bicos. Letting time remain on the surface.
Light touches every stone point, giving history edges we can recognize.
03 / EASTERN EDITORIAL READING · AN EASTERN WAY OF READING THE CITY
HEXAGRAM 30Hexagram 30离Li over Li · Fire
Commentary on the Image
“Brightness rises twice: Li;
the luminous person continues its light in every direction.”
Why do we read Casa dos Bicos
through Li?
Li is brightness and also attachment. Light must attach to matter; civilization must attach to stone, remains, names and words if it is to cross destruction and forgetting and remain visible.
Explore the interpretationXiaoxiong editorial interpretation
Light clings to the façade
The pointed stones are not a decorative trick. They bind light and shadow to the wall, give the house an urban identity and preserve an Italian journey in Lisbon.
Form · Light becomes visible through attachmentRebuild without pretending
The upper floors were reconstructed in the 1980s from old images. Acknowledging the break makes history clearer: continuity does not pretend destruction never happened.
Time · Continue the light without false antiquityWords give remains a voice
Archaeology reveals earlier urban life; the Saramago Foundation keeps words asking questions. Stone preserves the trace and literature returns it to public life.
Today · Memory becomes readable againKEEP WALKING WITH THIS HEXAGRAMIf civilization needs something to attach to in order to continue,
If civilization needs something to attach to in order to continue,
what are we entrusting our memory to today?
Leave Casa dos Bicos and follow the old shoreline toward the cathedral and Alfama. See how signs, warehouses, walls and tables preserve life. A city is lit not only by landmarks, but by those who still use it every day.
FACT AND INTERPRETATION KEPT SEPARATE
Construction, earthquake damage, changing uses, restoration and archaeology are verifiable facts. “Li, Fire” is a contemporary Eastern reading by Xiaoxiong's editors about light, attachment and cultural continuity; it is neither the building's original meaning nor divination.
Loading the restaurant directory within 3 km…
Casa dos Bicos · 3 KMAround the landmark,
Around the landmark,
— places to try.
Recognize the entrance. Check the route on the map and the menu on the website.