Mosteiro dos Jerónimos

Lonely Planet review

Vasco da Gama's discovery of a sea route to India inspired the glorious Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, a Unesco World Heritage site with an architectural exuberance that trumpets 'navigational triumph'. It later became a pantheon for Manuel I and his royal descendants (many now entombed in its chancel and side chapels). Huge sums were funnelled into the project, including pepper money, a 5% tax on income from the spice trade with African and Far Eastern colonies.

Work began around 1501, following a Gothic design by architect Diogo de Boitaca, considered a Manueline originator. After his death in 1517, building resumed with a Renaissance flavour under Spaniard João de Castilho and, later, with classical overtones under Diogo de Torralva and Jérome de Rouen (Jerónimo de Ruão). The monastery was completed in 1541, a riverside masterpiece - the waters have since receded. The huge neo-Manueline western wing and domed bell tower were added in the 19th century. The façade has a horizontal structure, to encourage a feeling of repose. It looks like no one told João de Castilho about the repose idea - his fantastic southern portal is a filigree frenzy, dense with religious and secular significance.

The monastery was populated with monks of the Order of St Jerome, whose spiritual job for about four centuries was to give comfort and guidance to sailors - and to pray for the king's soul. When the order was dissolved in 1833 the monastery was used as a school and orphanage until about 1940.

Peaceful even when crowded, the monastery's golden-stone cloisters dance with Manueline organic detail and exotic influences from overseas. The simple tomb of renowned poet and writer Fernando Pessoa is here. One wall is lined with 12 confessionals so monks could hear penitents who came to the church. The sarcophagus in the echoing chapterhouse on the northeastern corner belongs to the 19th-century Portuguese historian Alexandre Herculano (he of many street names).

You enter the church through the western portal. The first thing you notice about the interior is its height, reaching up to an unsupported baroque transept vault 25m high. Tall, tree-trunk-like columns seem to grow into the ceiling, which is itself a spider web of stone. Windows cast golden light over the church. Superstar Vasco da Gama is interred in the lower chancel, just to the left of the entrance, in a place of honour opposite Luís de Camões, the venerated 16th-century poet. From the upper choir you get a superb view of the church; the rows of seats are Portugal's first Renaissance woodcarvings.