Sights in Évora
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Palácio dos Duques de Cadaval
Just northwest of the Igreja de São João is the 17th-century façade of a much older palace and castle, as revealed by the two powerful square towers that bracket it. The Palácio dos Duques de Cadaval was given to Martim Afonso de Melo, the governor of Évora, by Dom João I, and it also served from time to time as a royal residence. A section of the palace still serves as the private quarters of the de Melo family; the other main occupant is the city's highway department.
The well-proportioned 1st-floor rooms are relaxing to amble around, and form the Salas de Exposição do Palácio, a well laid-out, if enigmatically labelled, collection of family portraits, early il…
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Templo Romano
Opposite the museum is the complete Templo Romano dating from the 2nd or early 3rd century. It is the best-preserved Roman monument in Portugal, and probably on the Iberian Peninsula. Though it's commonly referred to as the Temple of Diana, there's no consensus about the deity to which it was dedicated, and some archaeologists believe it may have been dedicated to Julius Caesar.
How did these 14 Corinthian columns, capped with Estremoz marble, manage to survive in such good shape for some 18 centuries? The temple was apparently walled up in the Middle Ages to form a small fortress, and then used as the town slaughterhouse. It was only rediscovered late in the 19th century…
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Igreja de São João
The small, fabulous Igreja de São João, which faces the Templo Romano, was founded in 1485 by one Rodrigo Afonso de Melo, count of Olivença and the first governor of Portuguese Tangier, to serve as his family's pantheon. It is still privately owned, by the Duques de Cadaval, and notably well kept.
Behind its elaborate Gothic portal is a nave lined with fantastic floor-to-ceiling azulejos (hand-painted tiles) produced in 1711 by one of Portugal's best-known tile-makers, António de Oliveira Bernardes. The grates in the floor expose a surprising underworld: you can see a deep Moorish cistern that predates the church, and an ossuary full of monks' bones. In the sacristy be…
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Temple
Opposite the museum are the remains of a Roman temple dating from the 2nd or early 3rd century. It’s among the best-preserved Roman monuments in Portugal, and probably on the Iberian Peninsula. Though it’s commonly referred to as the Temple of Diana, there’s no consensus about the deity to which it was dedicated, and some archaeologists believe it may have been dedicated to Julius Caesar. How did these 14 Corinthian columns, capped with Estremoz marble, manage to survive in such good shape for some 18 centuries? The temple was apparently walled up in the Middle Ages to form a small fortress, and then used as the town slaughterhouse. It was uncovered late in the 19th centu…
reviewed
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Praça do Giraldo
The Praça do Giraldo has seen some potent moments in Portuguese history, including the 1483 execution of Fernando, Duke of Bragança; the public burning of victims of the Inquisition in the 16th century; and fiery debates on agrarian reform in the 1970s. Nowadays the square is still the city focus, hosting less dramatic activities such as sitting in the sun and coffee drinking.
The narrow lanes to the southwest were once Évora's judiaria (Jewish quarter). To the northeast, Rua 5 de Outubro, climbing to the sé (cathedral), is lined by handsome townhouses wearing wrought-iron balconies, while side alleys pass beneath Moorish-style arches.
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Capela dos Ossos
What draws the crowds, though, is the mesmerising Capela dos Ossos. A small room behind the altar has walls and columns lined with carefully arranged bones and skulls of some 5000 people. Visitors here describe the sight as macabre, artistic, ghoulish or beautiful (and, tasteful or not, we even heard several people humming ‘Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones’). According to records, 17th-century Franciscan monks constructed this as a memento mori (reminder of death) to meditate on the human condition. An inscription over the entrance translates as: ‘We bones await yours’.
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Museu de Évora
Adjacent to the cathedral, in what used to be the archbishop's palace (built in the 16th century), is the elegant Museu de Évora. Fragments of old Roman and Manueline statuary and façades line the courtyard, which has been excavated to reveal Visigothic, Roman and medieval remains. In polished rooms upstairs are former Episcopal furnishings and a gallery of Flemish paintings.
Most memorable is Life of the Virgin, a striking 13-panel series that was originally part of the cathedral's altarpiece, created by anonymous Flemish artists, most or all of them working in Portugal around 1500.
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Igreja de São Francisco
Évora's best-known church is the Igreja de São Francisco, a tall and huge Manueline-Gothic structure, completed around 1510 and dedicated to St Francis. Exuberant nautical motifs celebrating the Age of Discoveries deck the walls and reflect the confident, booming mood of the time. It's all topped by a cross of Christ's order and dome. Legend has it that the Portuguese navigator Gil Vicente is buried here. What draws the crowds, though, is the Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones) to the right of the main entrance.
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Termas Romanas
Inside the entrance hall of the câmara municipal on Praça de Sertório are more Roman vestiges, discovered only in 1987. The impressive Termas Romanas (Roman baths), which include a laconicum (heated room for steam baths) with a superbly preserved 9m-diameter circular pool, would have been the largest public building in Roman Évora. The complex also includes an open-air swimming pool, discovered in 1994.
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Church
Évora’s best-known church is a tall and huge Manueline-Gothic structure, completed around 1510 and dedicated to St Francis. Exuberant nautical motifs celebrating the Age of Discoveries deck the walls and reflect the confident, booming mood of the time. It’s all topped by a cross of Christ’s order and dome. Legend has it that the Portuguese navigator Gil Vicente is buried here.
reviewed
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Igreja da Nossa Senhora da Graça
Down an alley off Rua da República is the curious baroque façade of the Igreja da Nossa Senhora da Graça, topped by four ungainly stone giants - as if they've strayed from a mythological tale and landed up on a religious building. An early example of the Renaissance style in Portugal is found in the cloister of the 17th-century monastery next door.
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Convento dos Lóios
The former Convento dos Lóios, to the right of the Church of St John the Evangelist, has elegant Gothic cloisters topped by a Renaissance gallery. A national monument, the convent was converted into a top-end pousada (upmarket inn) in 1965. If you want to wander around, wear your wealthy-guest expression - or have dinner at its upmarket restaurant.
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Town Walls
About one-fifth of Évora's population lives within the old town walls, some of which are built on top of 1st-century Roman fortifications. Over 3km of 14th-century walls enclose the northern part of the old town, while the bulwarks along the southern side, such as those running through the jardim público (public gardens), date from the 17th century.
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Universidade de Évora
Outside the town walls to the northeast is the Universidade de Évora, a descendent (reopened in 1973) of the original Jesuit institution founded in 1559 (which closed when the Jesuits got shooed out by Marquês de Pombal in 1759). Inside are arched, Italian Renaissance-style courtyards, a brazilwood ceiling and beautiful azulejos.
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Church of St John the Evangelist
The small, fabulous Church of St John the Evangelist, which faces the Templo Romano, was founded in 1485 by one Rodrigo Afonso de Melo, count of Olivença and the first governor of Portuguese Tangier, to serve as his family’s pantheon. It’s still privately owned, by the Duques de Cadaval, and notably well kept.
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Cathedral
Évora’s cathedral looks like a fortress, with two stout granite towers. It was begun around 1186, during the reign of Sancho I, Afonso Henriques’ son – there was probably a mosque here before. It was completed about 60 years later. The flags of Vasco da Gama’s ships were blessed here in 1497.
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Cloister
The cool cloister is an early-14th-century addition. Downstairs are the stone tombs of Évora’s last four archbishops. At each corner of the cloister a dark, circular staircase (at least one will be open) climbs to the top of the walls, from where there are good views.
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Ermida de São Brás
From the town walls you can see, a few blocks to the southeast, the crenellated, pointy-topped Arabian Gothic profile of the Ermida de São Brás, dating from about 1490. It's possibly an early project of Diogo de Boitac, considered the originator of the Manueline style.
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Casa Cordovil
Among several elegant mansions around the Largo da Porta de Moura square (and contemporary with the strange-looking, globular 16th-century Renaissance fountain in the middle of it) is Casa Cordovil, built in Manueline-Moorish style.
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Galeria das Damas
Inside the walls of the 16th-century Palácio de Dom Manuel is the Galeria das Damas, an indecisive hybrid of Gothic, Manueline, neo-Moorish and Renaissance styles. There are also frequent temporary art exhibitions.
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Jardim Público
For a lovely tranquil stroll, head to the light-dappled Jardim Público (with a small outdoor café) south of the Igreja de São Francisco. Here you'll find the remnants of the Palácio de Dom Manuel.
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Porta de Moura
The so-called Porta de Moura to the inner town stands beside busy Largo da Porta de Moura, just southeast of the cathedral.
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Igreja do Carmo
The extraordinary knotted Manueline stone doorway of the Igreja do Carmo lies south of Largo da Porta de Moura.
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Aqueduto da Água de Prata
Jutting into the town from the northwest is the beguilingly named Aqueduto da Água de Prata, designed by Francisco de Arruda (better known for Lisbon's Tower of Belém) to bring clean water to Évora and completed in the 1530s. At the end of the aqueduct, on Rua do Cano, the neighbourhood feels like a self-contained village, with houses, shops and cafés built right into its perfect arches, as if nestling against the base of a hill.
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