The Batalha Monastery

As it was custom during the Middle Ages, some rulers of Europe used to build churches or monasteries in order to give thanks for a military victory, such is the case with the Batalha Monastery built after a 1385 battle in which King Joao’s army was outnumbered by the Castilians and still managed to win – ‘batalha’ actually means battle in Portuguese.

The monastery was built and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, because since the king was victorious it meant that Portugal gained its independence from Spain, and the king gave the monastery to the Dominicans.

The actual building took about two centuries to finish, and it features Gothic and Manueline styles, however it was dissolved as a monastery, along with all the other monasteries in the country in 1834

The west façade is covered in lacy stonework and features Gothic windows, it also overlooks a very spacious plaza; those who visit it at night will see it spectacularly illuminated. You’ll also see an octagonal building attached to the right of the church, this is the Founder’s Chapel.

When it comes to the west portal of the church, this one is decorated with a Gothic sculpture: an arc-shaped tympanum which depicts Christ in Majesty with the Evangelists, and angels, saints and biblical figures look on from six archivolts.

The doors are actually flanked by free-standing statues of the Twelve Apostles, each one of them being unique in appearance. We should note that the façade contains the largest stained-glass window in Portuguese Gothic architecture.

You can walk around the east end of the monastery and get a great view of the apse and of the Unfinished Chapels, while at the southeast corner you’ll see the equestrian statue of Nuno Alvares.

The nave is made up of three-aisles which feature vertical lines of pure Gothic style, and the windows are of quite exceptional beauty.

The Batalha Monastery is just one of the many more religious sites that you can visit while on your trip to Portugal, make sure you employ our Portugal car rental services to have an easy time of it.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima

This site is by far one of the most famous Marian shrines in the entire world. The main building is the Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima, whose construction started on the 13^th of May 1928, a wonderful Neoclassical church that was later consecrated on October 7^th 1953.

The central spire is a slender construction that rises sixty-five meters and the church itself is flanked by monumental colonnades which overlook a very large open plaza. The center of the plaza is dominated by the Monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus which was built in 1932, being situated over a spring that according to the shrine, has been ‘the instrument of many graces’.

The basilica has fifteen altars dedicated to the fifteen mysteries of the rosary and it also houses the tombs of the young visionaries.

The other mains stop at Fatima is the Chapel of Apparitions, an open-air chapel built on the original site of the appearances, which is open year-round for regular services and can even  be virtually visited via high-res webcam.

The Convento de Cristo in Tomar

The Convent of the Order of Christ was built in 1160 by the Knights Templar in order to defend the very volatile Muslim-Christian border at that time.

This is quite a unique monastic fortress, first of all because it is a monastic fortress and then because its construction was an on-going project for somewhere close to five centuries, which turned the initial Templar stronghold into a gallery of Portuguese architectural styles.

There are many things to see here, actually everything is interesting however we’ll just mention a couple, starting with the portal of the church which was designed about 1530 and richly decorated in the typical Manueline style.

To the left of the portal you’ll find the 16^th century rectangular Manueline nave, which replaced the older Gothic nave, and a large interior arch links the Romanesque round church to the Manueline nave.

We could talk about these religious destinations in much more detail and we probably will do so in the future, but keep in mind that you can see them for yourself with the help of some Algarve car rental services.