SANTA MARIA DA VITORIA MONASTERY

This Gothic and Manueline monastery, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was erected following a vow made by King John I on the eve of the Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385.

This batalha opposed a troop of 30,000 soldiers of John I of Castile to 6,500 Portuguese soldiers of John of Avis. The highly unequal forces and the importance of the stakes (a defeat would have brought Portugal into Spanish hands) led King John to believe that the victory was worth a monastery. Immediately said, immediately done: Providence (and the strategic genius of General de João) had brought victory and a first draft of a monastery was begun in 1388. Partially completed in 1433, the construction of Santa Maria da Vitoria continued until 1521, when Manuel I decided to abandon the remaining projects in favour of the monastery of Los Jerónimos in Belém.

It is first of all a colour or rather a harmony of colours: an ochre, rust, grey of a spiritual fortress. Behind the main façade, the dimensions of the monastic church are overwhelming: a central nave more than 30 m high and many Gothic stained glass windows make us feel very small. Enter the first chapel on your right, the Founder's Chapel: it houses the tomb of John I of Avis and his wife Philippa de Lancaster, of such high proportions that it is inaccessible to the general public. Next to them, lie in the same room, the children of their union, including a certain Infanta Enrique (known as Henry the Navigator). Opposite the chapel, you can then access the Gothic and Manueline cloister, a masterpiece of its kind, where you can admire the superb variations in the fillings under the arches: alternating plant motifs and strings, and more floral motifs containing the cross of the Knights of Christ. Behind, the cloister of King D. Afonso V, less ornamented, must symbolize the return to the sobriety that this king operated in the 15th century. Very surprising, the chapter room: it protects the tomb of two unknown soldiers, permanently guarded. In Batalha, it is the "unfinished chapels" that are most worth a visit: part of an octagon opening onto the sky, their entrance gate is one of the most remarkable Manueline style achievements of all. And, although their vault has not been completed, the immense stump pillars that were to support it stand here forever...