The Monastery of Jesus () is a historical religious building in

Setúbal Setúbal ( , , ; ), officially the City of Setúbal (), is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the entire municipality in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies withi ...

, Portugal, which served a monastery of

Poor Clare The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare (Latin: ''Ordo Sanctae Clarae''), originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and also known as the Clarisses or Clarissines, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Sec ...

nuns. It is one of the first buildings in the

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 version of late Gothic. The cloisters of the complex houses a museum of the monastery (''Museu de Jesus''). In 2013, pan-European heritage organization

Europa Nostra Europa Nostra (Latin for "Our Europe") is a pan-European Federation for cultural heritage, Cultural Heritage, representing citizens' organisations that work on safeguarding Europe's cultural and natural heritage. It is the voice of this movement ...

declared the monastery to be one of the 7 most endangered monuments in Europe.

History

The monastery was founded around 1490, outside the city walls of Setúbal, by Justa Rodrigues Pereira, a noblewoman of the Portuguese royal court. After 1491, King John II started sponsoring the building of the monastery, which he commissioned Diogo de Boitaca (or ''Boytac''), an architect of unknown origin, possibly French. After the death of John II in 1495,

King Manuel I Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate (), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portugal, as monarch. Manue ...

continued supporting the construction works through an annual payment to Boitaca for his work on the church. Most of the church was built between 1490 and 1495, and in 1496 the nuns of Order of Poor Clares were already living in the monastery. After 1495, under Manuel I, the

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 ...

of the church was covered with stone

vaulting In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...

, replacing the wooden ceiling originally planned. It is believed that, in the 1510s,

ordered the

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 ' ...

of the church to be rebuilt, although this is contested by some authorities. Founder Justa Rodrigues Pereira and her family were buried in the

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

of the church, located in the main chapel. During the first half of the 16th century, Jorge de Lencastre, bastard son of King John II and Master of the

Order of Santiago The Order of Santiago (; ) is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the patron saint of Spain, ''Santiago'' ( St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgrims on the Way of S ...

, donated to the monastery a large area in front of the South façade, known as ''Terreiro de Jesus'' (Jesus' Square). He commissioned an elegant cross in honour of the

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

of the monastery, Jesus Christ, which was placed near the apse of the church. In the 19th century the cross was moved to the middle of the square. The church and monastery were severely damaged by the Great earthquake of 1755. The earthquakes of 1531, 1858, 1909 and

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

inflicted minor damage. In 1992, IGESPAR, under the Cultural Ministry of Portugal, declared the monastery to be a national monument holding intangible value to Portuguese heritage.

Art and architecture

Exterior

The church of the Monastery of Jesus, built between 1490 and 1510, is a very significant monument of Portuguese architecture, since it is the earliest known building in which aspects of the

style of decoration were employed. The South façade of the church, facing Jesus' Square, is the main façade of the building. Viewed from the square, the church combines two distinct spaces: a rectangular

and a polygonal

, higher than the nave, located at the East end of the building. A bell tower is located on the Western side of the façade. The walls and vaulting of the church ceiling are supported by a series of stepped

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es along the outer walls of nave and apse. Each buttress is decorated with

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...

s and a twisted

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was main ...

, while the upper walls of the church have decorative

crenellation A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals t ...

s. The main

portal Portal may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), a series of video games developed by Valve ** ''Portal'' (video game), a 2007 video game, the first in the series ** '' Portal 2'', the 2011 sequel ** '' Portal Stori ...

is located in the middle of the South façade and was the last feature of the façade to be built. This portal, which has remained unfinished, is prominent in relation to the façade and has several

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 with empty niches. The tympanum is decorated with two letters "A" inserted in an "O", and a

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

divides the entrance in two smaller, twin-arched portals. The South side of the apse is decorated by a beautiful, large

ed window with late Gothic

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 ...

Interior

The church is rather narrow and consists of a nave and two side

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 of the same height, unifying inner space as in a

hall church A hall church is a Church (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

, a characteristic that would be found in later Manueline spaces like the nave of the

Jerónimos Monastery The Jerónimos Monastery or Hieronymites Monastery (, ) is a former monastery of the Hieronymites, Order of Saint Jerome near the Tagus river in the parish of Santa Maria de Belém, Belém, in the Lisbon Municipality, Portugal. It became the nec ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. Each pillar of the nave, supporting a pointed arch, is composed of three intertwined subcolumns in rough granite. These spiralling columns, made from

Breccia Breccia ( , ; ) is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or Rock (geology), rocks cementation (geology), cemented together by a fine-grained matrix (geology), matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language ...

from the ) would also be a typical theme in later

buildings, like the

Guarda Cathedral The Cathedral of Guarda () is a Catholic church located in the northeastern city of Guarda, Portugal, Guarda, Portugal. Its construction took from 1390 until the mid 16th century, combining Gothic architecture, Gothic and Manueline architectural st ...

. The side aisles are supported by semi-barrel vaults. The main chapel of the church has a square shape. It is covered by an exuberant late Gothic star-ribbed vaulting with decorative bosses. Some of the ribs of the vault have the shape of a twisted rope, again anticipating a common theme in Manueline vaultings throughout the country. The main altar and the pulpit date from the 18th century. The inner walls of the apse are decorated with 17th-century blue-and-white

tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, Rock (geology), stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, wal ...

s (''azulejos'') with geometric patterns, while the ''

azulejo (, ; from the Arabic ) is a form of Portuguese and Spanish painted Tin-glazing, tin-glazed ceramic tilework. ''Azulejos'' are found on the interior and exterior of church (building), churches, palaces, ordinary houses, schools, and nowadays, r ...

s'' on the side walls of the church depict scenes from the life of Maria, bordered by colourful frames.

Museu de Jesus

The adjacent monastery has been turned into an art museum with a top collection of Flemish and Portuguese Primitive painters from the 15th and 16th centuries. Under King Manuel I (around 1520), the church was decorated with a 14-panel, painted

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, ...

by one of Portugal's main

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 ...

artists,

Jorge Afonso Jorge Afonso (''c.'' 1470 – 1540) was a noted Portuguese Renaissance painter. Jorge Afonso was nominated royal painter in 1508 by King Manuel I and again in 1529 by John III. He was mainly based in Lisbon, with a workshop near the Igreja de ...

. The altarpiece, one of the best in Portugal, was removed from the apse of the church in the 18th century but can still be seen in this Art Museum of the Monastery. The rest of the collection consists of archaeological finds, historical coins, old documents and books. Another part of the museum is dedicated to

Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage Manuel Maria Barbosa l'Hedois du Bocage (15 September 1765 – 21 December 1805), most often referred to simply as Bocage, was a Portuguese Neoclassic poet, writing at the beginning of his career under the pen name ''Elmano Sadino''. Biography ...

, a famous 18th-century poet born in Setúbal.

References

Sources

*Portuguese Institute for Architectural Heritag
ippar.pt
*General Bureau for National Buildings and Monuments (Portugal
monumentos.gov.pt
*Rentes de Carvalho, J. - Portugal, um guia para amigos (in Dutch translation : Portugal); de Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam; 9th ed., August 1999; *Ferreira de Almeida, C.A. ''A Igreja de Jesús de Setúbal''. Revista da Faculdade de Letras (1990
pdf
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jesus, Setubal Buildings and structures completed in 1496 Manueline architecture Gothic architecture in Portugal Poor Clare monasteries in Portugal Christian monasteries established in the 1490s Museums in Setúbal District Art museums and galleries in Portugal Buildings and structures in Setúbal Christian museums Buildings and structures in Setúbal District Religious museums in Portugal National monuments in Setúbal District 7 Most Endangered Programme