The name of the Senhor Roubado metro station conceals a macabre episode dating back to the 17th century.
The name of this stop near Odivelas does not refer to a robbery of an ordinary citizen, but rather to the theft of sacred objects that led to one of the most brutal sentences of the time.
The Theft at the Church of Odivelas
The 17th-century justice system showed no mercy in the face of the gravity of this religious theft, and the sentence handed down to António Ferreira was designed to serve as a public example and deterrent: as punishment, the thief’s hands were severed; he was then executed by garrote; and to complete the sentence, his body was burned.
The memory of this episode was not immortalized until decades later, between 1744 and 1747, through the construction of the Padrão do Senhor Roubado, a commemorative monument located about a three-minute walk from this metro station.
The Historic “Padrão do Senhor Roubado”
The memorial still serves today as an open-air historical record, told through a tile panel that details the thief’s journey, from the theft at the church to his execution.
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