Beja - Convent of the Conception

(Local Name: Convento N.S. da Conceiçao) The starting point for a tour of Beja's old town is possibly the Praça da Concaiçao, embellished with a modern statue (1958) of Queen Eleanor (1458-1525). In this square is the surviving part of the Convent of the Conception (Nossa Senhora da Conceiçao), a small house of Poor Clares founded by the Infante Dom Fernando and his wife Dona Brites and built between 1459 and 1506. It shows clear Manueline features and currently houses the regional museum.

In this convent lived the nun, Mariana Alcoforado (1640-1723) who, in 1665, from her window first saw the Chevalier de Chamilly. After getting to know him through her brother she embarked on an affair that ended with Chamilly's return to France in 1667. She is supposed to have sent her lover five passionate letters that were first published in 1667. These love letters which are enshrined in international literature as the "Lettres Portugaises" (letters of a Portuguese Nun) were probably, in fact, written not by the nun but by the Frenchman Gabriel-Joseph Guillerague (1636-1715).