The Church of Saint Francis () is the most prominent Gothic monument in

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, being also noted for its outstanding

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

inner decoration. It is located in the historic centre of the city, declared

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

History

The

Franciscan Order The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

was established in Porto around 1223. Initially, the order was antagonised by the secular and clergy of other religious institutions, particularly by the

bishop of Porto The Diocese of Porto () (Oporto) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Portugal. It is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Braga. Its see at Porto is in the Norte region, and the second largest city in Portugal. History The dioc ...

. It took a papal bull, the ''Bulla Doelentis accepimus'' by

Pope Innocent V Pope Innocent V (; c. 1225 – 22 June 1276), born Pierre de Tarentaise, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 January to 22 June 1276. A member of the Order of Preachers, he acquired a reputation as an effective ...

, to restore to the Franciscans the plot of land previously donated to them. They began building the convent and a first, small church dedicated to

Saint Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone ( 1181 – 3 October 1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italian mystic, poet and Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Christian life of poverty, he ...

around 1244. In 1383, under the patronage of King Ferdinand I, the Franciscans began to build a more spacious church. This new structure was finished around 1425 and followed a relatively plain Gothic design, typical for the

mendicant orders Mendicant orders are primarily certain Catholic Church, Catholic religious orders that have vowed for their male members a lifestyle of vow of poverty, poverty, traveling, and living in urban areas for purposes of preacher, preaching, Evangelis ...

in Portugal. The general structure of the church has not been extensively altered, making São Francisco the best example of

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...

in Porto. During the 15th and 16th centuries, prominent Porto families chose the Franciscan for their pantheon. The Chapel of St John the Baptist is a notable example, built in the 1530s for the Carneiro family in

Manueline The Manueline (, ), occasionally known as Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese architectural style originating in the 16th century, during the Portuguese Renaissance and Age of Discoveries. Manueline architecture inco ...

style, the Portuguese late Gothic. The main artistic campaign of the church was carried out in the first half of the 18th century, when most of the surfaces of the interior of the church, including walls, pillars, side chapels and roof, were covered with Portuguese gilt wood work (''talha dourada'') in

style. Particularly notable are the many Baroque altarpieces of the apse chapels and the nave, which are among the best in Portugal. A fire, caused by the

siege of Porto The siege of Porto is considered the period between July 1832 and August 1833 in which the troops of Pedro I of Brazil, Dom Pedro remained besieged by the forces of Miguel I of Portugal, Dom Miguel I of Portugal. The resistance of the city of ...

in 1832, destroyed the old cloisters. In its place, the Commercial Association of the city built the Stock Exchange Palace (

Palácio da Bolsa The Stock Exchange Palace () is a historical building in Porto, Portugal. The palace was built in the 19th century by the city's Commercial Association () in Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassical style. It is located in the Infante D. Henrique ...

), a magnificent example of 19th century

Neoclassical architecture Neoclassical architecture, sometimes referred to as Classical Revival architecture, is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy, France and Germany. It became one of t ...

Art

Exterior and floorplan

The main façade of the Franciscan church has a large, elaborate

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'' wa ...

in Gothic style. This is the only original decoration of the main façade. The West portal is now a typical

work, organised in two tiers, with

solomonic columns The Solomonic column, also called barley-sugar column, is a helical column, characterized by a spiraling twisting shaft like a corkscrew. It is not associated with a specific classical order, although most examples have Corinthian or Composite ...

and a statue of St Francis. The South portal, facing the river, is still Gothic. The portal is stepped forward from the facade and has a triangular

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

decorated with a pentagram. The opening is composed of a series of Gothic

archivolt An archivolt (or voussure) is an ornamental Molding (decorative), moulding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental mouldings (or other architectural elements) surrounding an arched opening, ...

s; the inner moulding is decorated with an arcade relief of

Mudéjar Mudéjar were Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period following the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for Mudéjar art, which was greatly influenced by Islamic art, but produced typically by Christian craftsmen for C ...

(Islamic influenced) design. The church has a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

with three

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

s, with the central aisle being the highest. The East end of the church has 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 ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

and an

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

with three chapels. The crossing area is illuminated by the large windows of the

arms and main chapel, as well as by a small

over the main chapel with

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support th ...

in the shape of a

pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle around ...

Interior

A polychrome granite statue (13th century) of Saint

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone ( 1181 – 3 October 1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italians, Italian Mysticism, mystic, poet and Friar, Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Chris ...

, standing inside the church next to the entrance within a Baroque altarpiece, is a remnant of the first St Francis church, replaced after 1383 by the present structure. During the 15th and 16th centuries several noble families chose St Francis as their pantheon. Near the entrance is located the old pantheon for the family of Luís Álvares de Sousa, with an interesting Gothic portal decorated with a

coat-of-arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achiev ...

and a dedicatory inscription. The chapel is nowadays occupied by a Baroque altarpiece. Another interesting chapel is the one dedicated to Saint John the Baptist (''São João Baptista''), built around 1534 in the right transept arm for the family of João Carneiro. This chapel, by architect Diogo de Castilho, has a beautiful portal and is covered with an intricate

rib vault A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic a ...

ing in

style. The Baroque altarpiece of the chapel still has the 16th-century painting, representing the Baptism of Christ, incorporated into a Baroque

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

. From the same period, the church also has a fine

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

tomb, imbedded onto a wall. In the early 18th century the lateral aisles and apse chapels were extensively decorated with exuberant gilt wood work (''talha dourada'') by several Portuguese wood carvers. This decorative richness is the most notable feature of the Franciscan church, covering almost completely the roofs of the aisles, pillars, window frames and chapels and hiding the underlying mediaeval architecture. Even though the Baroque gilt work does not completely harmonise with the Gothic structure of the church, it is considered one of the most outstanding of Portugal. Among the altarpieces, particularly important is the one that depicts the "

Tree of Jesse The Tree of Jesse is a depiction in art of the ancestors of Jesus Christ, shown in a branching tree which rises from Jesse (biblical figure), Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of King David. It is the original use of the family tree as a schemati ...

" on the North lateral aisle. This polychromed woodwork was carved by Filipe da Silva and António Gomes, as stated in a contract of 1718. It represents a family tree of Jesus with twelve kings of Judah connected through branches of the tree to the recumbent body of

Jesse Jesse may refer to: People * Jesse (biblical figure), father of David in the Bible * Jesse (given name), including a list of people * Jesse (surname), a list of people Music * ''Jesse'' (album), a 2003 album by Jesse Powell * "Jesse" (s ...

. On the top of the tree is Joseph, under an image of the Virgin and the Child. The niches flanking this tree contain statues of St. Anne and St. Joachim (father and mother of Maria) and four Franciscan doctors who wrote about the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Mariology, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Debated by medieval theologians, it was not def ...

. Another notable example of gilt wood decoration in Porto is the interior of the ''Santa Clara Church''. The facade of the church is flanked by interesting monuments like the 18th century, Neoclassical ''Church of the Ordem Terceira de São Francisco'' and the ''Dispatch House of the Order'' (''Casa de Despachos''), which houses a museum and has an interesting Baroque interior.

References

Portuguese Institute for Architectural HeritageGeneral Bureau for National Buildings and Monuments (Portugal)
*St. Francis Monument Church – Guide book (on sale in the church)

External links

Igreja de São Francisco and its catacombs .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Church of Sao Francisco (Porto) Buildings and structures completed in 1425 Churches completed in the 1420s 15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Portugal Roman Catholic churches in Porto Franciscan churches in Portugal National monuments in Porto District