Alcobaca and Batalha
Did I really say no more churches?
No way... today's blog is all about monasteries and churches.
You need to suffer like we suffered.
Of course, you can just click off whenever you wish - once Ruth and I enter a monastery, we're committed to see it through.
Surprisingly, I found the day very interesting - I hope to give you a little flavour of what made it interesting.
It wasn't the churches themselves that generated the interest but the royal politics. Mind you, the church provides the service of preserving things like tombs, sculptures, and paintings which depict the Portuguese royal rulers through each of their eras, and therefore, we are brought into their lives as we discover their exploits while standing in front of their final resting locations.
Look here... first we visit the Monastery of Santa Maria in Alcobaca.
After "knocking that off", we visit the Monastery of Santa Maria in Batalha - about half an hour's drive (at 130km/hr) away.
Yes - that's two Monastery's of Santa Maria in close proximity of each other. In fact, if you type into Google search "Monastery of Santa Maria Portugal" you get eight listed.
Santa Maria has quite a following with monks!
I promise only to describe two. Here's the first one (Alcobaca):
Nice building from the outside, and I'll just hit some of the highlights from our visit.
But first some 18th century tile work - here's just one photo (no more, I promise) where the 12th century Portuguese are preparing to build the monastery after a major conquest of the Moors. You can see the monks and the King's men working together pinpointing where to do the construction... all heads tilted slightly to show saintly cooperation.
The tile art is extensive - I think all history known to Portuguese mankind is available to be seen on blue tiles.
Then there's a series of statues - one of each of the Kings of Portugal. Not sure who lost his head.
Interestingly, you can see there's a blank pedestal on the left - that was supposed to be for Mary I - Portugal's first queen. You'll notice that this pedestal is wider than all the others - Mary I was very broarrrrd! Also, she used to wear a wide, fluffy dress.
Anyway, her statue never happened.
The huge earthquake of 1755 meant all statue building funds dried up - all available funds went to rebuilding the city instead.
Good decision!
Out into the cloisters now...
The cloisters within the monastery were a real sight - their internal arches made for a very attractive place for the monks (who weren't allowed to speak) to walk and think.
I tried to get Ruth to follow the monk's practice, but... well anyone who knows Ruth will tell you that "not-speaking" is not a gift she enjoys. Here's Ruth casually walking through the quadrangle/garden. Not sure what's being said at this particular moment, but...
whatever!
Here's a spectacular sight - the kitchen.
A huuuuge chimney is built over a large pit in which they could roast seven oxen at once. Well they had to feed 1,000 odd people from this kitchen.
And what about the kitchen's workbench...
The kitchen was extraordinary. To give you some sense of scale, the next photo has Ruth looking out of level one window down into the kitchen. My guess is the chimney is about 20 metres high.
The arches are pretty spectacular throughout. Here's a photo I took through the kitchen window into the adjoining spacious eating area (huge because it had to accommodate a lot of diners at once).
The arches were all through the building. This next photo is taken upstairs - this area used to be carved up into tiny rooms for the various monks to live within - over the years the dividing walls have been removed leaving a spectacular place to run a disco.
Another garden area within the monastery:
More arches:
A snap from a cloister as the bells were ringing for 12-noon.
And the obligatory church visit. Here's the altar view:
The next photo is of an alcove where tourists were kneeling on the pads shown here in front of a depiction of Mary herself. Quite a serious business - first lighting candles, and then kneeling and praying.
I didn't think it would be kosher for me to photograph people praying, and with only two pads, there was a queue - I used my space in the queue to just take the photo with nobody there.
Not sure who this lady is - could it be THE Mother and Child?
Now, I showed you the altar view - quite a large space there actually. But what you couldn't know is that to the left and to the right were quite large spaces dedicated to tombs - one in each space.
This brings alive the story of Portugal's Romeo and Juliette.
Below is the tomb of King Pedro I, laid there in 1367, toes towards the centre, angels ready to lift him up to face the other wing in which lay...
Ines de Castro - King Pedro's childhood sweetheart whom he loved dearly until his father, who didn't approve of them being together, had killed in 1355 while Pedro was fighting for his people.
And Ines is also laid with her feet pointing to the centre, the angels ready to lift her up, so when all the lifting happens, the first thing they will each see will be each other.
How romantic is that?
The story goes something like this:
Pedro was forced to marry Constance for empire building reasons when he was 17. That's when Pedro first met Ines - at her cousin Constance's wedding.
Well... that was it... Pedro wanted the cousin.
Constance and Pedro duly produced a few kids as required by daddy, but Pedro kept Ines on the side (in Coimbra where we go to next). Pedro and Ines had children also.
Constance then dies, but knowing dad wasn't happy about Ines, Pedro marries her quietly and in secret. Well it was secret until dad found out... off Pedro goes into battle and returns to find his wife murdered.
Pedro goes ballistic, stages an armed uprising against dad, and is installed as King. Lots of people die in the fighting.
He exhumes Ines' body, and lays it out onto a throne, and makes everyone involved in the murder kiss her rotting hand, after which he personally rips out the heart of the two who actually did the deed of murdering Ines, and then eats them, washing them down with Green Wine (Vino Verde) which is a popular wine region in the North of Portugal.
Romantic huh?
SO that was Alobaca... what wonderful stories can I bring you from Bathalha?
Read on...
Here's (just for something different) Monastery Saint Maria - the front door.
And here's the side view:
Ruth found something interesting to snap too.
A jet was passing by...
Interesting looking building.
And there's a church with very high ceilings!
Here's the view looking towards the altar.
And here's the view looking back towards the entry door.
Oh... there's a chapel on the side, and there's a tomb with two royals holding hands.
The romance in Portugal is overwhelming.
This couple is King John I and his English Queen, Philippa.
The story with this couple is that King John I is the bastard son of King Pedro and Ines.
This bloke repelled Spanish invaders, and claimed the throne back and ruled from 1385 to 1433. This was a great era for Portugal too, and the couple produced children to keep it all going after their passing.
The couple look up to a very high domed ceiling:
Ruth found it worth photographing too.
This monastery had cloisters too.
On the right you might be able to make out a soldier:
The tomb of the unknown soldier lays within this monastery.
The tomb is guarded by soldiers - we were on hand to see changing of the guards.
The tomb and monument and guards:
Beautiful structure - good for helping the monks keeping it shut.
My attempt at taking a nice photograph.
And again.
I'm not a monk, so I was allowed to speak on the phone.
Here I am pretending to have an important phone call when I'm just listening to the audio description about the monastery and who was the architect. I suppose that information might be important to some people - if you're one of those, Dr Google will help you out.
Stained glass windows wasn't a feature in Portugal, yet here we are:
Oh... here's an unfinished chapel.
Oh well, King Duarte and his wife Leonor lay under the clouds, holding hands too, blissfully unaware that the roof was never completed. These guys ruled for only about five years (1433 - 1438) after John I.
He died of the plague unexpectedly, leaving his six year old son, Alfonso as King.
Doorway to the unfinished chapel was ornate.
Here's a close-up.
Well, I apologise for all the history and churchy stuff today... Next stop is Coimbra... a University town.
No way... today's blog is all about monasteries and churches.
You need to suffer like we suffered.
Of course, you can just click off whenever you wish - once Ruth and I enter a monastery, we're committed to see it through.
Surprisingly, I found the day very interesting - I hope to give you a little flavour of what made it interesting.
It wasn't the churches themselves that generated the interest but the royal politics. Mind you, the church provides the service of preserving things like tombs, sculptures, and paintings which depict the Portuguese royal rulers through each of their eras, and therefore, we are brought into their lives as we discover their exploits while standing in front of their final resting locations.
Look here... first we visit the Monastery of Santa Maria in Alcobaca.
After "knocking that off", we visit the Monastery of Santa Maria in Batalha - about half an hour's drive (at 130km/hr) away.
Yes - that's two Monastery's of Santa Maria in close proximity of each other. In fact, if you type into Google search "Monastery of Santa Maria Portugal" you get eight listed.
Santa Maria has quite a following with monks!
I promise only to describe two. Here's the first one (Alcobaca):
Nice building from the outside, and I'll just hit some of the highlights from our visit.
But first some 18th century tile work - here's just one photo (no more, I promise) where the 12th century Portuguese are preparing to build the monastery after a major conquest of the Moors. You can see the monks and the King's men working together pinpointing where to do the construction... all heads tilted slightly to show saintly cooperation.
The tile art is extensive - I think all history known to Portuguese mankind is available to be seen on blue tiles.
Then there's a series of statues - one of each of the Kings of Portugal. Not sure who lost his head.
Interestingly, you can see there's a blank pedestal on the left - that was supposed to be for Mary I - Portugal's first queen. You'll notice that this pedestal is wider than all the others - Mary I was very broarrrrd! Also, she used to wear a wide, fluffy dress.
Anyway, her statue never happened.
The huge earthquake of 1755 meant all statue building funds dried up - all available funds went to rebuilding the city instead.
Good decision!
Out into the cloisters now...
The cloisters within the monastery were a real sight - their internal arches made for a very attractive place for the monks (who weren't allowed to speak) to walk and think.
I tried to get Ruth to follow the monk's practice, but... well anyone who knows Ruth will tell you that "not-speaking" is not a gift she enjoys. Here's Ruth casually walking through the quadrangle/garden. Not sure what's being said at this particular moment, but...
whatever!
Here's a spectacular sight - the kitchen.
A huuuuge chimney is built over a large pit in which they could roast seven oxen at once. Well they had to feed 1,000 odd people from this kitchen.
And what about the kitchen's workbench...
The kitchen was extraordinary. To give you some sense of scale, the next photo has Ruth looking out of level one window down into the kitchen. My guess is the chimney is about 20 metres high.
The arches are pretty spectacular throughout. Here's a photo I took through the kitchen window into the adjoining spacious eating area (huge because it had to accommodate a lot of diners at once).
The arches were all through the building. This next photo is taken upstairs - this area used to be carved up into tiny rooms for the various monks to live within - over the years the dividing walls have been removed leaving a spectacular place to run a disco.
Another garden area within the monastery:
More arches:
A snap from a cloister as the bells were ringing for 12-noon.
And the obligatory church visit. Here's the altar view:
The next photo is of an alcove where tourists were kneeling on the pads shown here in front of a depiction of Mary herself. Quite a serious business - first lighting candles, and then kneeling and praying.
I didn't think it would be kosher for me to photograph people praying, and with only two pads, there was a queue - I used my space in the queue to just take the photo with nobody there.
Not sure who this lady is - could it be THE Mother and Child?
Now, I showed you the altar view - quite a large space there actually. But what you couldn't know is that to the left and to the right were quite large spaces dedicated to tombs - one in each space.
This brings alive the story of Portugal's Romeo and Juliette.
Below is the tomb of King Pedro I, laid there in 1367, toes towards the centre, angels ready to lift him up to face the other wing in which lay...
Ines de Castro - King Pedro's childhood sweetheart whom he loved dearly until his father, who didn't approve of them being together, had killed in 1355 while Pedro was fighting for his people.
And Ines is also laid with her feet pointing to the centre, the angels ready to lift her up, so when all the lifting happens, the first thing they will each see will be each other.
How romantic is that?
The story goes something like this:
Pedro was forced to marry Constance for empire building reasons when he was 17. That's when Pedro first met Ines - at her cousin Constance's wedding.
Well... that was it... Pedro wanted the cousin.
Constance and Pedro duly produced a few kids as required by daddy, but Pedro kept Ines on the side (in Coimbra where we go to next). Pedro and Ines had children also.
Constance then dies, but knowing dad wasn't happy about Ines, Pedro marries her quietly and in secret. Well it was secret until dad found out... off Pedro goes into battle and returns to find his wife murdered.
Pedro goes ballistic, stages an armed uprising against dad, and is installed as King. Lots of people die in the fighting.
He exhumes Ines' body, and lays it out onto a throne, and makes everyone involved in the murder kiss her rotting hand, after which he personally rips out the heart of the two who actually did the deed of murdering Ines, and then eats them, washing them down with Green Wine (Vino Verde) which is a popular wine region in the North of Portugal.
Romantic huh?
Read on...
Here's (just for something different) Monastery Saint Maria - the front door.
And here's the side view:
Ruth found something interesting to snap too.
A jet was passing by...
Interesting looking building.
And there's a church with very high ceilings!
Here's the view looking towards the altar.
And here's the view looking back towards the entry door.
Oh... there's a chapel on the side, and there's a tomb with two royals holding hands.
The romance in Portugal is overwhelming.
This couple is King John I and his English Queen, Philippa.
The story with this couple is that King John I is the bastard son of King Pedro and Ines.
This bloke repelled Spanish invaders, and claimed the throne back and ruled from 1385 to 1433. This was a great era for Portugal too, and the couple produced children to keep it all going after their passing.
The couple look up to a very high domed ceiling:
Ruth found it worth photographing too.
This monastery had cloisters too.
On the right you might be able to make out a soldier:
The tomb of the unknown soldier lays within this monastery.
The tomb is guarded by soldiers - we were on hand to see changing of the guards.
The tomb and monument and guards:
Beautiful structure - good for helping the monks keeping it shut.
My attempt at taking a nice photograph.
And again.
I'm not a monk, so I was allowed to speak on the phone.
Here I am pretending to have an important phone call when I'm just listening to the audio description about the monastery and who was the architect. I suppose that information might be important to some people - if you're one of those, Dr Google will help you out.
Stained glass windows wasn't a feature in Portugal, yet here we are:
Oh... here's an unfinished chapel.
Oh well, King Duarte and his wife Leonor lay under the clouds, holding hands too, blissfully unaware that the roof was never completed. These guys ruled for only about five years (1433 - 1438) after John I.
He died of the plague unexpectedly, leaving his six year old son, Alfonso as King.
Doorway to the unfinished chapel was ornate.
Here's a close-up.
Well, I apologise for all the history and churchy stuff today... Next stop is Coimbra... a University town.
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