Cathedral

  Monuments

     

Building began at the end of the 14th century and was only concluded in the middle of the 16th century. It is a beautiful Gothic church with Manueline furnishings. It is thought that the architects were Filipe and Pedro Henriques, sons of the architect who designed the Monastery of Batalha.
It is made entirely of granite and has a lacy diadem of spires and a frieze of fleur de lis all around the terraces. The north façade is the most interesting; it has giants holding up the exterior top of the nave, a Gothic entrance, a Manueline window and opening on the wall behind the main altar to light up the apse.
The main façade is plain and has a Manueline entrance and square towers, which become octagonal at the top. There are flying buttresses on the side walls and floating arches having pinnacles, common in Gothic buildings. The roof eaves have gargoyles of faces, fish and monsters.
The interior is light and airy, in contrast to the exterior. It is in the shape of a cross, 3 naves with 5 vaults each, separated by pillars. There is a ribbed vault over the 2 arms of the cross. There is a beautiful semicircular altarpiece on the main altar. There are glass windows in the apse and a sculpture in Ançã stone from the workshop of João de Ruão in Coimbra. There are about 100 figures in the sculpture depicting the life of Christ.