A Small Taste of How People Lived 500 Years ago... or More

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(Edited)

Good night, little Bees!

Here is one of the most important historical buildings of the city of Vila do Conde, in Portugal. It's a very old church called Igreja de São João Batista (Church of Saint John the Baptist) and its construction started in the final years of the 15th century. It took around 20 years for it to be finished.

To this day the church is still used by the devoted Christians and it's in perfect condition. Without any of the modern technology our ancestors were capable of building monuments that last for centuries... and unless there is an unexpected disaster, it will likely still be standing 5 centuries from now, at least.

It's located in one of the more quieter parts of the city... but not too far from the busy centre. Just a couple of hundred meters away, really.

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The column you see at the foreground of the photo is called Pelourinho (pillory) and it was used to display and punish the criminals in front of all the citizens. Since there were no TV or Internet, the people had their fun seeing others being beaten up. Strange times to live in... 😖

This Pelourinho is located in the middle of a square where people can sit and relax in one of the many benches available all around its edges... There's also a decorative fountain, built as an entertaining amenity.

At times where no criminal was being tortured in public... the square was used by the locals to play medieval games like sword fighting or whatever games people played at the time. 😁

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The chapel right next to this fountain is the oldest building of the town, believed to have been built in the 11th century. Yep, you've read it right. This chapel, by the name of Capela de Nossa Senhora da Agonia (Chapel of Our Lady of the Agony), was build around 1000 years ago! 😮

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On the other side of the square there is another fountain, but this was a functional one... with potable water for people to bring their jugs and buckets and fill them up. 🤗

And here you have it... a little taste of how life was 500 or 1000 years ago! How far we have come... eh? Let's try and keep it that way. 😉

LocationVila do Conde - Portugal
CameraMicrosoft Lumia 950 XL
Photos3 (Edited with GIMP)

hive-194913 photography photofeed photocircle qurator life creativecoin palnet theluvbug portugal
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31 comments
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I have picked your post for my daily hive voting initiative, Keep it up and Hive On!!

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Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍

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Bang, I did it again... I just rehived your post!
Week 17 of my contest just started...you can now check the winners of the previous week!
!BEER
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It's so amazing when You see in the past, they built to last...
Now, (*where I currently live) -
The life span is measured in 10's of years, not 100's or 1000's!

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Ahahha, for sure. I know what you mean! 😅

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Sign O' The Times...
(*Prince)

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Right? Here people are like "OMG this was built in ~the 80s~ we need to remodel it's so outdated!!" ...and I'm like, IT'S YOUNGER THAN I AM CALM DOWN! I hate the disposable society, but I also hate the erase-the-past, everything-must-be-modern aesthetic. I was watching this random YouTube video about how glass skyscrapers are a problem for energy use (and also that if the sun hits it at the wrong angle it can reflect light like a magnifying glass THAT MELTS CARS), and so this architect was talking about how they build them now and she said, "Ugh, NOBODY uses brick anymore, brick is so old" and I was like, "the brick buildings are my favorite buildings in cities, they're so pretty!" But you know, they take longer than a few months to put up, so. 😒
!BEER

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I find amazing how these buildings are 1000 years old and still standing... and they've survived a few earthquakes and all kinds of storms. 😁

Nowadays, if there's a severe storm, more recent buildings fly with the wind...

It's like the Three Little Pigs Story in reverse.

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I believe it's the system...
If you build a shit house and it Storms...
Insurance gets involved...
Building supplies gets involved...
Workers to rebuild get involved..
Along with building permits, etc..
And inspectors...
Kind of a big scam...
🤔😕🙁
Especially if it could have been built right once...

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Yeah, build it badly so the economy keeps on going. I get it. 🤣

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Exactly...
Since money is not real, at all...
it has to keep "moving* in any and everyway possible, because if it stops...
The banking system crumbles,
And they know this better than Me...
🙁🙁🙁

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If You can erase enough of the past fast enough...
You can tell younger generations anything You please....
🤔😕🙁☹️

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Great photography, I have always liked this type of sculpture, thanks for sharing it.

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always enjoy a good history excursion, TNKS for making the story!

actually, I surfaced to share with you this link.
https://yadi.sk/d/gRn-SUzVYlBHlg
WAS sitting AND SORTING my archives, and found this package of graffity and street art I saved to my PC back in 2000-es. tint size but extremely nice plots here and there, I hope you will enjoy it!

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You did justice to this place with your awesome photography. We also have these structures here in our country and some of them have also been built during the time of Spain's colonization which began in 1521. It's a marvel how these were built to last. But my guess is the building materials before were sturdier and stronger than what are used today. Here in our city, a condominium 12 years old crashed during a 6.5 magnitude earthquake. That's a far cry from structures made in the 16th and 17th centuries which are still standing. Great post, as usual.

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It seems like that's the norm, these days. Maybe architects and engineers should be forced to read The Three Little Pigs story in their last year of university, eh? 🤣

Thank you very much for your visit and comment.

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It's amazing to see how these old buildings are still standing strong and pretty after nearly 1000 years. It's interesting to imagine how people live centuries ago, though I'm a bit confused as to why criminals are punished right in front of a church. I guess salvation really is at hand... About 100 metres away 😅

Posted using Dapplr

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Church and beatings have a long history together. 😁

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Wow such an old building! It looks great, nice Photography 🙈🌞

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Thanks! Can you imagine having to pay taxes for 1000 years? Thankfully to the priests... Churches are exempt from taxes! 🤭

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