As beautiful as the Tower of Belem was in Lisbon and as delicious as the pasteis de nata's were, for me both of them paled in comparison to the Jerónimos Monastery.
It was the highlight of our visit to the Belém district, and without a doubt, my favorite thing to see in that part of the city.
The Monastery was built at the begining of the 16th century in the year 1502 by King Manuel I.
The architecture style is gothic by the looks of it. You can just tell by the detail and flamboyance of it.
Something of note about the site is that its construction was funded through the taxation of imported goods coming from Africa and Asia, mainly spices such as pepper, cinnamon and cloves.
Who would have thought that spices could fund such a magnificent project? But then again, who doesn't love cinnamon?
The Monastery was essentially a massive palace built for the King. It has since been turned into a museum and is open to the public today.
It was getting a little late in the afternoon when we were there and we were getting tired so we only went into the church portion of the building.
The church was actually just a small part of the much larger structure but it was still as grand as any cathedral that we've been to.
Actually, we started by walking around the building and sort of hummed and hawed about going inside before finally saying, "What the heck, we may as well, while we're here."
I'm really glad that we did decide to go in though because it was pretty spectacular in there.
I've seen Gothic architecture many times before but this definitely had its own flare about it.
The detail on the stone columns was particularly impressive.
Interestingly, the columns were carved in a nautical theme and depict a variety of sea motifs, coils of rope, different corals and even sea monsters.
That last bit makes me wish that I would have taken a closer look.
Apparently the monks who lived and worked at the Monastery were given the task of praying for the King, as well as giving guidance to sailors of Portugal (hence the theme).
One must always consult with the oracles before going off an any adventure.
The ceilings were really quite impressive in there as well.
As was the gild work.
Like most churches, this one was dimmly lit.
But there were plenty of candles inside that really added to the overall ambiance.
There's always something really satisfying about seeing large banks of lit candles. Do you agree?
I like it when churches have a lot of artwork on the walls as well. It kind of makes it like a museum in a way.
I like killing two birds with one stone on trips. To me, it's all about efficiency of time.
Another interesting fact is that the Monastery is the final resting place of one of Portugals most famous explorers.
He goes by the name of Vasco da Gama. I don’t know much about the man but supposedly he was the first European to sail to the Indian Sea.
He died of malaria during one of his expeditions in 1524 and his body was moved to the Monastery later in the 19th century. Source
There were actually a few different tombs in there and I didn't know exactly who was who, but I believe that they were members of the royal family, as well as one or two Portugese poets. I mainly just thought that the tombs looked really cool though. The placement of them in the church and the stone carvings were really quite beautiful.