The Jerónimos Monastery
The Jerónimos Monastery or Hieronymites Monastery, is a former monastery of the Order of Saint Jerome near the Tagus river in the parish of Belém, in the Lisbon Municipality, Portugal; it was secularised on 28 December 1833 by state decree and its ownership transferred to the charitable institution, Real Casa Pia de Lisboa. The monastery is one of the most prominent examples of the Portuguese Late Gothic Manueline style of architecture in Lisbon. It was classified a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the nearby Tower of Belém, in 1983. The Jerónimos Monastery replaced the church formerly existing in the same place, which was dedicated to Santa Maria de Belém and where the monks of the military-religious Order of Christ provided assistance to seafarers in transit. The harbour of Praia do Restelo was an advantageous spot for mariners, with a safe anchorage and protection from the winds, sought after by ships entering the mouth of the Tagus. The existing structure was inaugurated on the orders of Manuel I (1469–1521) at the courts of Montemor o Velho in 1495, as a final resting-place for members of the House of Aviz, in his belief that an Iberian dynastic kingdom would rule after his death. In 1496, King Manuel petitioned the Holy See for permission to construct a monastery at the site. The Hermitage of Restelo (Ermida do Restelo), as the church was known, was already in disrepair when Vasco da Gama and his men spent the night in prayer there before departing on their expedition to the Orient in 1497.
Size: 4679px × 7010px
Location: The Jerónimos Monastery or Hieronymites Monastery, former monastery of the Order of Saint Jerome
Photo credit: © Rik Hamilton / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1495, 1833, 1983, advantageous, anchorage, architecture, assistance, belief, belé, casa, charitable, christ, church, classified, courts, de, dedicated, dynastic, entering, examples, existing, final, gothic, harbour, heritage, hieronymites, house, iberian, inaugurated, institution, jerome, jerónimos, late, lisboa, lisbon, manuel, manueline, maria, members, military-religious, monastery, monks, montemor, mouth, municipality, nearby, order, orders, ownership, parish, pia, portugal, portuguese, praia, prominent, protection, real, replaced, restelo, resting-place, river, safe, saint, santa, seafarers, secularised, ships, site, sought, spot, structure, style, tagus, tower, transferred, transit, unesco, velho, winds, world