The Wheels of Fortune and of Life: square format central detail of sculpted mid-1300s Gothic ‘rose window’ on tomb of King Pedro I opposite that of his murdered mistress Inês de Castro in the church of the Mosteiro de Santa Maria at Alcobaça, Centro, Portugal, a former Cistercian royal monastery founded 1153. An inverted inscription below the wheels translates: “Until the end of the world …”.
Alcobaça, Centro, Portugal: the Wheels of Fortune and of Life … square format central detail of the sculpted ‘rose window’ on the head end of the Gothic marble tomb of Dom Pedro (King Peter I) in the church of the Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Alcobaça, the former Cistercian royal monastery founded in 1153 by the first King of Portugal. Pedro commissioned both his own tomb and that of his murdered mistress, Inês de Castro (born 1325), and their effigies lie facing each other, Pedro in the south transept and Inês in the north. Pedro wanted them to be able to see each other when they rose from their graves at the Last Judgement; the inverted Portuguese inscription below the Wheel of Life reads “Até o fim do " (Until the end of the world…). The ‘window’, mutilated by French troops, comprises 18 sculptural scenes in two concentric circles: the Wheel of Life (outer circle) around the Wheel of Fortune. The carvings depict joyous moments such as Pedro in all his majesty opposite tragic scenes such as the monarch lying in his shroud. Pedro (1320-1367) married Constance of Castile, but then embarked on a long love affair with Inês, her aristocratic lady-in-waiting. After Constance died in 1349, Pedro’s father, Afonso IV, banished Inês from court and then ordered her assassination. She was decapitated in front of one of her young children in 1355. When Pedro became king two years later, he exacted a gruesome revenge on her killers and ordered his lover’s remains to be transferred to her tomb at Alcobaça. According to popular (but probably false) legend, he had her exhumed corpse crowned as queen and ordered the entire court to swear allegiance to her and kiss her decomposing hand. The monastery is the burial place of many of Portugal’s monarchs. The last monk left in 1834 and the entire monastic complex is now protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Size: 4833px × 4833px
Location: Alcobaça, Centro, Portugal.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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