Visiting Alcobaça Monastery, you cannot miss the majestic church. Stunning on the outside, but when I entered (I will still show photos of that another time) I was stunned by the size of it. Big space, giant columns, almost no decorations... Just space and light.
And in the end of it, you have these two: King Pedro and Ines de Castro.
In the transept of the church are located the tombs of King Pedro I and his mistress, Inês de Castro, who was assassinated in 1355 by order of Pedro's father, King Afonso IV. After becoming king, Pedro ordered the remains of his beloved to be transferred to her tomb in Alcobaça and, according to a popular legend, had her crowned as queen of Portugal and ordered court members to pay her homage by kissing her decomposing hand.
This pair of royal tombs in Alcobaça, of unknown authorship, are among the best works of Gothic sculpture in Portugal. The tombs are supported by lions, in the case of the king, and half-men half-beasts, in the case of Ines, and both carry the recumbent figures of the deceased assisted by a group of angels.
source
All the tomb decorations are in pretty good shape in general. You can see some missing parts though and broken wings on the angels. You can also spot that some of the tiny figures are missing heads or legs.
Both of tombs are facing opposite directions with the light from the high windows shining on them.
They are both guarded by the angels, but if you look closely, you will notice that the queen's angels are smaller than the ones guarding the king. Also the heads holding the tomb - majestic lions for the king and... human dogs (I have no idea what they are) for the queen. It shows the importance of both.
Just a tiny little bit creepy :p
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All photos and text are my own.
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