THE CONVENT OF JERONIMOS AND THE TOWER OF BELÉM
 

Jerónimos is an admirable temple and the most striking product of Portuguese national style. – HAUPT.

These two wonderful monuments would in themselves be enough to justify a visit to Lisbon. Not only are they architectural jewels, but they are linked by tradition with the glory of the great Discoveries with which Portugal astonished the world in the sixteenth century. They are both witnesses to a great historical period and great specimens of the «Manuelino» style, which is the Portuguese national style par excellence.

The Convent (or more strictly, Monastery) of Jerónimos was designed and dedicated by King Manuel I, towards the end of the fifteenth century, before the caravels of Vasco da Gama left, for their famous voyage, from the small beach opposite the place where the Convent has been built. And it was the very discovery of the sea-way to India and the wealth that resulted from it that enabled the «Fortunate King» and his successors to carry out their dedication with breadth and magnificence.

The first stone was laid, it seems, in 1502. The initial design and the first work are due to the architect Boytac, who is responsible for the Gothic-naturalist character of great part of the ornaments.

In 1517 the control of the work passed to João de Castilho, to whom, in cooperation with Nicolas de Chanterenne, are attributed the ornaments of the pillars, the figures in the doorways and the Renaissance part of the cloister. Later on Diogo de Torralva and Jerónimo de Ruão had likewise a share in the building. After the Great Earthquake in 1755, as also in the nineteenth century, certain repairs were made, but it cannot be said that they are all happy.

Of this monument Edgar Quinet said that it is of sublimity so inborn, so original, that the whole thought of the Portuguese people seems to be contained in it.

From the doorways of the Church, which are among the most wonderful specimens of the age and in the world, to the remarkable majesty and balance of the main façade; from the interior of the temple, consisting, according to the classic tradition, of three naves 92 meters long and 25 broad but all of the same height and separated by octogonal columns so etherealized by the carving that they scarcely seem to exist but one sole vault to be over all, to the chapels of the transept and of the main altar; from the vestry to the cloister, held by Haupt to be one of the finest in the world – the building is a marvel of balance and of decorative imagination, rich in details which, for the greater part, cannot be seen in any other country, owing to the national originality to which they are due.

The Tower of Belém was built, in 1515, also by order of King Manuel I, in the historic Restelo Beach, being that from which, as we have said, the ships of the Great Discoverers left for the terrors of the unknown seas. It was designed by Francisco de Arruda.

The Tower used to jut up whol1y out of the water, but the progressive shifting of the Tagus towards the South now leaves it linked to the shore by a thin strip of beach.

It is perhaps the most curious among the best examples of Portuguese architecture, and it is a permanent reminder of the great military and naval past of Portugal.

Its composing elements are drawn from the Roman-Gothic tradition, and they express in eloquent uniqueness the spirit of an age and the knightly and religious ideal of a country.

Olivier Merson rightly says that it is the most graceful and the most elegant of jewels carved under the inspiration of Moorish fancies.