The Church of St. Francis () is located in
Évora
Évora ( , ), officially the Very Noble and Ever Loyal City of Évora (), is a city and a municipalities of Portugal, municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of . It is the historic capital of the Alentejo reg ...
, Portugal. It is best known for its lugubrious
Chapel of the Bones. The Church was classified as
National Monument
A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...
in 1910.
Overview
This huge church was built in
Gothic style (with some Manueline influences) between 1475 and the 1550s to the design of
Martim Lourenço, replacing an earlier
Romanesque church of 1226. This church is one of a kind through its
narthex
The narthex is an architectural element typical of Early Christian art and architecture, early Christian and Byzantine architecture, Byzantine basilicas and Church architecture, churches consisting of the entrance or Vestibule (architecture), ve ...
with
arcade
Arcade most often refers to:
* Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game
** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware
** Arcad ...
s in front of the church. The arcade is formed by seven arches with different forms (semicircular, pointed or horseshoe arches), a typical blend of Gothic and Moorish elements.
The battlemented façade has conical or spiral-shaped
spire
A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...
s. The Manueline entrance to the church carries above a pelican, emblem of king
João II and an
armillary
An armillary sphere (variations are known as spherical astrolabe, armilla, or armil) is a model of objects in the sky (on the celestial sphere), consisting of a spherical framework of rings, centered on Earth or the Sun, that represent lines of ...
, emblem of king
Manuel I Manuel I may refer to:
*Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos (; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned ov ...
.
The church shows majestic proportions : 36 x 34 x 24 m. The single,
groin-vaulted 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 ...
gives a wide impression, accentuated by the white mortar on the walls and the columns. This is the largest nave of this kind to be found in Portuguese churches. The spacious vault of the crossing rests on ogival arches. The father of Portuguese drama
Gil Vicente
Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...
is buried at the left side of the entrance.
The chancel (early 16th century) with the main altar (from a later date) displays Renaissance features. But the choir stalls were made in different art styles : the right one in
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 ...
, the left in
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 ...
style. The altars in the transept are decorated with gilded sculpturework (''talha dourada'') framing 16th century panels, probably painted by Flemish artists.
The sides of the nave contain twelve open chapels, built between the buttresses of the wall.
See also
List of churches in Portugal
References
External links
Monumentos - Convento de São Francisco de Évora*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Igreja de Sao Francisco (Evora)
Buildings and structures in Évora
Sao Francisco Evora
National monuments in Évora District