The Manueline portal of the Igreja da Concao Velha stands out noticeably from the rather inconspicuous, self contained row of houses on the Rua da Alfándega. The portal comes from the former, important Igreja da Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia which was built here at the beginning of the 16th C., but was almost completely destroyed by the 1755 earthquake.
This predecessor of the present church was built on the site of a synagogue on the request of the sister of Manuel I, Leonor von Bragança, who also initiated the Convento da Madre de Deus. The form of the Manueline portal is attributed to Joao de Castilho, who is considered one of the finest architects of this age.
Most typically recognizable embellishments are the Knight's Cross of Christ, the armillary sphere (a globe of metal rings representing the equator, tropics, etc.) on the right and the left and the Portuguese coat of arms.
The group of people above the portal include Leonor, her brother Manuel and Pope Leo X, above whom Nossa Senhora de Misericórdia spreads her protective coat.
The present entrance was the southern side door of the transept in the earlier, considerably larger church. The arrangement of the ground plan has therefore become completely different. Both of the two remaining, preserved windows on the southern facade and the altar chapel in the interior have been included within the new church.
Inside the one aisled building the painted stucco ceiling, the "M" of Manuel I and a crown make reference to the original church. The chancel is vaulted by a faceted barrel ceiling.
All in all, the interior appears isolated from the older entrance portal. While in the early 16th C. Manueline decoration was now and then added to the structure of older buildings already in existence, here the exact opposite was unavoidable. In both cases, however, the impression is easily formed that the different elements of style are isolated and disorganized when placed next to one another.
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