Alcobaça - Real Abadia de Santa Maria de Alcobaça

The main front of the abbey in Alcobaça, 221m/725ft long, is dominated by the Baroque facade (1725) of the church with its two low towers and its numerous statues. Of the original Gothic facade there survive only the doorway (also decorated with Baroque sculpture) and the large rose window.

The interior of the early Gothic hall-church is of Cistercian clarity, austerity and simplicity. The most spacious church interior in Portugal (106m/348ft long, 21.5m/71ft wide and 20m/65ft high), it is divided into three aisles of equal height, the lateral aisles being very narrow. Twenty-four massive piers, recessed on the inner side to take the choir-stalls (which were burned by the French), support twelve bays of Gothic vaulting. Around the choir are nine chapels and the high altar is surrounded by eight columns.

In the transepts are the sumptuous tombs of King Pedro I (south transept) and his beloved Inês de Castro (north transept), who was murdered at the behest of Pedro's father King Afonso IV. After his accession Pedro had her exhumed and crowned in due form at Coimbra as queen. The tragic story of the unhappy lovers and the bloody vengeance which Pedro exacted on the murderers after he became king, earning him the sobriquet of Pedro the Cruel, are celebrated by Camoes in the third canto of his "Lusiads".

At Pedro's wish the tombs were so placed that when they arose on the Day of Judgment the two lovers would see each other at once. The sarcophaguses, hewn from soft Ançâ sandstone, with rich figural decoration, are in the Flamboyant style of the second half of the 14th century. They were much damaged by Junot's troops in 1811.

On the sarcophagus of Inês de Castro, which is supported by crouching figures, is the recumbent figure of the dead woman, surrounded by six praying angels. Along the sides are scenes from the life of Christ, at the foot the Last Judgment, at the head Christ on Calvary. The stone sarcophagus of King Pedro, borne by six lions, has the recumbent figure of the king, also surrounded by praying angels. Along the sides are scenes from the life of St Bartholomew, and at the head is a wheel of fortune with 18 episodes from the life of the two lovers, including the murder of Inês.

In the transept chapels are painted terracotta figures of unnamed monks (17th century) and a fine representation of the death of St Bernard. To the east of the ambulatory the two fine Manueline doorways (16th century) are by Joao de Castilho. In the antechamber of the sacristy is the only example of reticulated vaulting in the abbey.

On the west side of the south transept is the Sala dos Túmulos, a funerary chapel containing a number of tombs.

On the southeast side of the cloister is the chapterhouse (14th C.), at the southwest corner the Sala dos Reis (Hall of Kings), the walls of which are decorated with azulejos depicting scenes from the history of the abbey. Also on the walls are terracotta statues (probably by monks) of most of the Portuguese kings down to José I. On the upper floor are the dorters, the library, etc.

On the north side of the cloister stands the Gothic fountain house. Here, too, is the entrance to the refectory (fine reading desk), one of the oldest parts of the abbey. Adjoining is the large kitchen, 18m/60ft high, with a huge open fireplace and a fish tank supplied with water from the Alcoa which was once an important feature of the abbey, since the Cistercians were forbidden to eat meat.

On the north side of the church are the medieval monastic buildings. A doorway in the north aisle leads into the beautiful two story Claustro do Silêncio or Claustro de Rei Dinis. The lower cloister was built by Domingo and Diogo Domingues between 1308 and 1311; the upper gallery (by the Castilho brothers) was built for King Manuel in the 16th C.