Abbey of Santa Maria de Alcobaca
The Abbey of Santa Maria de Alcobaça, is the finest example of Cistercian architecture in Christian Europe. In the course of time, to meet the needs for seclusion, wings were added, but these, for aesthetic reasons, in the then modern architectural style. The façade of this great monument measures no less than 221 meters and consists of three distinct bodies : North wing, Church and South Wing. As a result of the alterations during the 17th and 18th Centuries, the north wing comprised de quarters of the Royal family and illustrious guests, the Hall of Conclusion and other dependencies. In the south wing, built after the 1755 earthquake, was the apartments of the Triennial Abbots and the College of Nossa Senhora da Conceição.
The church adopts the Latin cross (symbol of Christianity), being composed of the main nave and the transept, where the tombs of D. Pedro and D. Inês de Castro are located. The construction started by the head that consists of nine radiant chapels...
The tomb of Inês de Castro, with recumbent statue and canopy is surrounded by angels. Around it are the Castro family. The tomb of Inês depicts the Crucifiction ant the slages of the Cross, the last Judgement, God presiding over the Divine Tribuna...
An octogonal reliquary lined with gilt carvings and niches containing busts and statues in wood and clay. Tis lighted by a large lantern and dates during the incumbency of Abbot Constantino Sampaio, 1661-1672. This reliquary is often referred to a...
The present sacristy, rebuilt in the 18th Century, rebuilt in the 18th Century, is a spacious room. Its ceiling is richly decorated in plaster painted blue, gold and white, and the floor covered with marble in geometric designs. To the left, as we...
The characteristic of this nave is its structure of interrupted columns, supported by corbels at 1/3 of the total height of the columns. The side naves are narrow and very tall. The thoracic arches are very marked and thick.
The former 18th century hall chapel is called King´s Hall for it contains polychrome terracotta sculptures representing the kings of Portugal from Afonso Henriques to King José. The work is commonly attributed to the potter-monks of the Monastery....
In the south gallery of the D.Dinis cloister there is a niche with an image of the century. XVI, of the Nª Senhora, the Virgin of the Cloister. Attributed to Nicolau Chanterene. Covered by vaults that support the edges and the round arches of perf...
The Chapter House, forming a square with a ceiling in diagonal rib voulting, supported by four bundle-column pillars with octogonal capitals, was, after the Church itself, the community´s most important place. Here the friars elected their abbots,...
The Cloister of King Dinis, also known as the cloister of silence, was built by King Dinis himself in the 14th Century. It replaces the original cloister which, judging from the traces of the brackets in the church and Chapter house, must have bee...
The friars hall with its three naves. It has 5 levels, possibly on account of its neven floor. Until the 16th century, this hall was probably used as a novitate and later as storehouse, granary or wine cellar.
In the gallery of the refectory of the cloister of D. Dinis is the washbasin , with its tank that receives water from a small branch of the Alcoa river - the Levadinha. It was intended to wash hands before meals
With a direct link to the church for liturgical offices of morning and evening prayer, it originally contained only the abbot´s individual cell, adjoining the transept and with access to the Treasury. With the construction of the new dormitories, ...
Built in place of the former calefactory, the new kitchen had a tank of running water, integrated in the hydraulic system of the Monastery, which got water from the "Levadinha" , a branch of the River Alcoa that was artificially constructed to se...
The cloister´s lavatorium marks the entrance to the Refectory and served for ablutions - ritual washing. During the meals sacred texts were read aloud from the pulpit. The refectory has groined vaults and the capitals of its columns are enhanced w...
This cloister was built between 1308-1311 during the reign of D. Dinis and is the work of two successive masters, Domingo Domingues and Mestre Diogo. An inscription in front of the Chapter Room, indicates the year and the day it started. This cloi...
