The Cathedral of Saint Mary Major ( pt, Santa Maria Maior de Lisboa or ''Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Mary Major''), often called Lisbon Cathedral or simply the Sé ('), is a
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
cathedral located in
Lisbon,
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal:
:* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...
. The oldest church in the city, it is the seat of the
Patriarchate of Lisbon. Built in 1147, the cathedral has survived many earthquakes and has been modified, renovated and restored several times. It is nowadays a mix of different architectural styles. It has been classified as a National Monument since 1910.
History
Lisbon has been the seat of a
bishopric since the 4th century (see
Patriarch of Lisbon). After the period of
Visigothic domination the city was conquered by the Moors and stayed under Arab control from the 8th to the 12th century, although Christians were allowed to live in Lisbon and its surroundings. In the year 1147, the city was reconquered by an army composed of Portuguese soldiers led by King
Afonso Henriques and North European crusaders taking part on the
Second Crusade (see
Siege of Lisbon). An English crusader named
Gilbert of Hastings was placed as bishop, and a new cathedral was built on the site of the main mosque of Lisbon.
This first building was completed between 1147 and the first decades of the 13th century in Late
Romanesque style. At that time the relics of St
Vincent of Saragossa, patron saint of Lisbon, were brought to the cathedral from Southern Portugal. In the end of the 13th century King
Dinis of Portugal built a
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
cloister, and his successor
Afonso IV of Portugal had the main chapel converted into a royal pantheon in Gothic style for him and his family. In 1498, Queen
Eleanor of Viseu founded the ' (''Brotherhood of Invocation to Our Lady of Mercy of Lisbon '') in one of the chapels of the cloister of the cathedral. This brotherhood evolved into the ''
Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa'', a Catholic charitable institution that later spread to other cities and had a very important role in Portugal and its colonies.
During the
Portuguese interregnum of 1383–85, the populace suspected that Bishop Dom Martinho Annes was plotting with the
Castilians and an angry crowd threw him out of the window of the northern tower
Earthquakes have always been a problem for Lisbon and its cathedral. During the 14th and 16th centuries there were several of them, but the worst of all was the
1755 Lisbon earthquake, which destroyed the Gothic main chapel along with the royal pantheon. The cloisters and many chapels were also ruined by the quake and the fire that followed. The cathedral was partially rebuilt and, in the beginning of the 20th century, was given the appearance that it has today after a profound renovation.
In recent years the central courtyard of the cloister has been excavated and shows signs of the Roman, Arab and mediaeval periods. Excavations started in Cathedral Cloister in 1990. They have revealed a Roman road with shops on either site. A part of a Roman kitchen and a "cloaca" (sewage system). and traces of later Visigoth buildings. A very visible part of a
Moorish building with red walls related to the
former mosque that once stood on this site was also excavated.
In 2020, remains of an
Almoravid complex, which researchers suggest is a
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a Place of worship, place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers (sujud) ...
, were uncovered.
Graça Fonseca, the Portuguese
Minister of Culture, determined that the Muslim remains should be kept in place.
Art and architecture
The cathedral is a
Latin cross building with three
aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...
s, a
transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building with ...
and a main chapel surrounded by an
ambulatory. The church is connected with a
cloister
A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...
on the Eastern side. The main façade of the cathedral looks like a fortress, with two towers flanking the entrance and
crenellations over the walls. This menacing appearance, also seen in other Portuguese cathedrals of the time, is a relic from the
Reconquista period, when the cathedral could be used as a base to attack the enemy during a siege.
Romanesque
From its first building period (1147 until the first decades of the 13th century), Lisbon cathedral has preserved the West façade with a
rose window
Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window ...
(rebuilt from fragments in the 20th century), the main portal, the North lateral portal and the nave of the cathedral. The portals have interesting sculptured
capitals with Romanesque motifs. The nave is covered by
barrel vaulting and has an upper, arched gallery (
triforium). Light gets in through the rose windows of the West façade and transept, the narrow windows of the lateral aisles of the nave as well as the windows of the
lantern tower of the transept. The general plan of the cathedral is very similar to that of the
Old Cathedral of Coimbra, which dates from the same period. One of the chapels of the ambulatory has an interesting Romanesque iron gate.
Gothic
At the end of the 13th century King
Dinis of Portugal ordered the construction of a cloister in Gothic style, which became severely damaged by the 1755 earthquake. Near the entrance of the cathedral, a rich merchant, Bartolomeu Joanes, built a funerary chapel for himself in the beginning of the 14th century. His tomb with his laying figure is still inside. Somewhat later, King
Afonso IV of Portugal had the Romanesque
apse
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...
replaced by a Gothic main chapel surrounded by an
ambulatory with radiating chapels. The king and his family were buried in the main chapel, but their tombs and the chapel itself were destroyed in the 1755 earthquake. The ambulatory has survived and is an important work in the history of Portuguese Gothic. It consists of a circular aisle – not connected to the main chapel – with a series of radiating chapels. The second storey of the ambulatory is covered by
ribbed vaulting and has a series of windows (
clerestory) that bathe the interior with abundant light.
The ambulatory contains three outstanding Gothic tombs from the mid-14th century. One tomb belongs to ''Lopo Fernandes Pacheco'', 7th Lord of
Ferreira de Aves __NOTOC__
Ferreira may refer to:
People
* Ferreira (surname)
* Ferreira (footballer, born 1979), Josiesley Ferreira Rosa, Brazilian football striker
* Ferreira (footballer, born 1984), Antonio Ferreira de Oliveira Junior, Brazilian football centr ...
, a nobleman at the service of King Afonso IV. His laying figure appears holding his sword and is guarded by a dog. His wife, ''Maria de Vilalobos'', appears over her tomb reading a
Book of Hours
The book of hours is a Christian devotional book used to pray the canonical hours. The use of a book of hours was especially popular in the Middle Ages and as a result, they are the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscrip ...
. The third tomb belongs to an unidentified royal princess. All tombs are decorated with coats-of-arms.
In the last quarter of the 15th century it is believed that the famous
Saint Vincent Panels, painted by
Nuno Gonçalves, were placed in the St Vincent chapel of the ambulatory. They remained there at least until 1690 and were set aside in the cathedral until 1742. They were then transferred to the palace of Mitra.
[Adriano de Gusmão, Nuno Gonçalves; The Burlington Magazine Vol. 98, No. 638 (May 1956), pp. 166, 169] The panels are now in the
Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (National Museum of Ancient Art) in Lisbon.
Modern times
During the 17th century a fine sacristy was built in
Baroque architectural style and, after 1755, the main chapel was rebuilt in
neoclassical and
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
styles (including the tombs of King Afonso IV and his family).
Machado de Castro, Portugal's foremost sculptor in the late 18th century, is the author of a magnificent crib in the
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
chapel of Bartomoleu Joanes. In the beginning of the 20th century, much of the neoclassical decoration from outside and inside of the cathedral was removed to give the cathedral a more "mediaeval" appearance.
Notes
References
*''Portugal/1 – Europa Romanica'', Gerhard N Graf, Ediciones Encuentro, Madrid, 1987
*
*
{{Authority control
Roman Catholic cathedrals in Portugal
Roman Catholic churches in Lisbon
Romanesque architecture in Portugal
Gothic architecture in Portugal
National monuments in Lisbon District
Former mosques in Portugal
13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Portugal