D. Pedro IV square

In April 1848, the City Council approved the paving of the central area of Rossio Square, following the model of mosaic paving ‘invented’ by Lieutenant General Eusébio Pinheiro Furtado in 1842, which would come to be known as calçada portuguesa (Portuguese paving).

For Rossio, Eusébio Furtado proposed a ‘broad and eye-catching line,’ that simulated a wide sea of black and white waves, which was replicated, decades later, on the Promenade of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  It took over a year of work by municipal pavers, and was finished on 31 December 1849.

The Wide Sea of Rossio only lasted until 1919, but it was set out again in 2001 as part of the contemporary revitalisation of the square.