in the Portuguese and European hospital tradition. Brief chapters follow on each of the buildings that would house the seven hospitals later to become the HCL group as it stood in the third quarter of the 19th century: São José Hospital (in which the São Lázaro Hospital was included), Desterro, Arroios, Dona Estefânia, Santa Marta, Curry Cabral and Santo António dos Capuchos. Rilhafoles Hospital (now Miguel Bombarda) will not be included here, as it has always enjoyed a certain autonomy and definitively separated from the group in 1918, to become part of the Medical School. The same applies to Odivelas Hospital, which was only a part of the group for about two years, between 1899 and 1901. It should be noted that the HCL, whose unity seemed unquestionable until a few years ago, now seem on the verge of almost total separation. With administrative and financial decentralization having already been carried out, closing Arroios Hospital and announcing that the same could happen to other hospitals in the group, it seems that their history may be coming to an end. This, therefore, closes the cycle of what we could call “the convent hospitals”, which have been gradually replaced by modern autonomous hospital units, built from scratch. This book came about as a response to this situation. Apart from presenting some new aspects that broaden our knowledge of HCL tile work, it aims to present the story of an institution that has contributed so much to the prestige of Portuguese medicine. Authors’ note: The history of the Civil Hospitals of Lisbon told in this book ends in 1996, when the first edition was published.
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