Batalha Abbey, Portugal

Often in our travels we visit a place and are truly wowed! Batalha Portugal is one of those places. Bathalha literally meaning Battle was founded in 1385 after the Battle of Aljubarrota. On one side was an army of 30,000 Spaniards vying to take the Portuguese throne. The other side (Portuguese) lead by Dom (King) Joâo with his army of 6500; won the battle. In mid fight Dom Joâo prayed and summoned the power of God, promising to build a superb abbey in return for victory.

Most of Dom Joâo’s monumental abbey formally known as Manueline Mosteiro de Santa Maria da Vitoria (Batalha Abbey) was completed by 1434 with 15th and 16th century expansions and additions.

The stonework on the abbey is of a detail which would usually be associated with lace, not stone.

The ochre coloured limestone building reaches to the sky with its intensely decorative pinnacles and parapets above the extraordinarily high ceiling. The warm light filters through the patterned coloured narrow windows. Layers of arches, ornate with apostles, saints and angels adorn each doorway.

The abbey is now both a national war monument housing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; and the crypts of the many Portuguese royals.

The Founders Chapel (housing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier) is beautiful in its simplicity. It has an extraordinarily large star vaulted ceiling in a square room. It is lit by an octagonal lantern.
The Claustro Real (royal cloister) contains a series of arches in a tangle of ornate stone carving. They are possibly the most intricately beautiful stonework that we have ever seen.

The Unfinished Chapels are an octagonal shaped royal mausoleum. The chapels are highly ornate and without windows. The chapels are not accessed through the church but from the street. The central area has no roof or ceiling leaving it open to the sky. There are a number of theories as to why the chapel was unfinished. The most popular being that the workers were summoned to Lisbon to work on Jeronimos Abbey and never returned.

The unfinished chapel houses the tomb of King Duarte and his wife Leonor of Aragon. The couple were madly in love throughout their life and the carving of the tomb reflects their devotion in a beautiful way.

If you can see past the stained and weathered exterior and look at the building beneath, you will see that the Batalha Abbey is a truly beautiful building.

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