Infanta Maria Anna of Portugal

Music

Music in the home and theater

Influential families regularly organized private dinner parties and concerts at home, while urban centers saw a boom in theater construction throughout the late nineteenth century.

Daily life

Primary education and schoolhouses

Primary schooling for children aged six to twelve was compulsory, though the lack of dedicated schoolhouses was a major challenge. Schools were often domestic in nature, sometimes with the teacher's residence attached to or part of the same building as the classroom.

What it cost

Daily wages for various Portuguese workers

Wages for a day laborer in the Douro district were 200 réis, while a mason in Lisbon earned 700 réis per day.

What people wore

Saving shoes for long journeys

During the week, laborers often traveled barefoot to save their shoes for longer journeys, carrying their footwear tied to a walking stick over their shoulder.

Getting around

Railway revolutionised travel speed to Cascais

By 1895, the railway between Lisbon and Cascais cut travel speeds from 9.5 km/h to about 40 km/h, turning a grueling journey into a 50-minute trip.

At the table

Shared meals from clay bowls

Families often ate together from a single large red clay bowl, sharing vegetables, potatoes, and sometimes fried bacon or sardines, while fruit, milk, and eggs were rare as they were typically sold for income.