Long Description:The Convent of the Order of Christ, in Tomar, Portugal, was
originally a Templar stronghold built in the 12th century. After
the Order of the Knights Templar was dissolved in the 14th century,
the Portuguese branch of the order was turned into the Knights of
the Order of Christ, which supported Portugal's maritime
discoveries of the 15th century.
Templar stronghold
The castle of the Knights Templar of Tomar was built by Gualdim
Pais, provincial Master of the Order of the Temple, around 1160.
Later in that century, the castle was chosen as the headquarters of
the order in Portugal. The castle of Tomar was part of the defence
system created by the Templars to secure the border of the young
Christian Kingdom against the Moors, which at the time (mid-12th
century) corresponded approximately to the Tagus river.
View of the polygonal Round Church of the Convent of Christ. Part
of the manueline nave can be seen behind the round church.The
famous round church (rotunda) of the castle of Tomar was also built
in the second half of the 12th century. The church, like some other
templar churches throughout Europe, was modelled after the Mosque
of Omar in Jerusalem, which was mistakenly believed by the
crusaders to be a remnant of the Temple of Salomon. The Church of
the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem may also have served as model.
According to Christian chroniclers, the castle of Tomar resisted
in 1190 the attacks of caliph Abu Yusuf al-Mansur, who had
previously taken other Portuguese strongholds to the South. A plate
near the entrance of the castle church remembers the feat.
Seat of the Order of Christ
The Templar order was suppressed throughout most of Europe in 1312,
but in Portugal its members, assets, and partly its vocation were
transmitted to the Order of Christ, created in 1319 by King Dinis.
The Order of Christ moved to Tomar in 1357, which became its
headquarters.
One of the most important Grand Masters of the Order was Prince
Henry the Navigator, who ruled the order from 1417 up to his death
in 1460. Prince Henry gave great impulse to the pioneering
Portuguese expeditions during the Age of Exploration. In the
Convent, Prince Henry ordered the construction of various cloisters
and other buildings. He also sponsored urban improvements in the
town of Tomar itself.
Another important personality related to the Order was King
Manuel I, who became Master of the Order in 1484 and King of
Portugal in 1492. Under his reign there were several important
improvements in the Convent, specially the addition of a new nave
to the round church and its inner decoration with paintings and
sculptures.
The successor of Manuel I, King John III, demilitarised the
order, turning it into a more religious order with a rule based on
that of Bernard of Clairvaux. He also ordered the construction of a
new cloister in 1557, which is one of the best examples of
Renaissance architecture in Portugal.
In 1581, after a succession crisis, the Portuguese Nobility
gathered in the Convent of Christ in Tomar and officially
recognised Philip II of Spain (Philip I of Portugal) as King. This
is the beginning of the Iberian Union (1581-1640), during which the
Kingdoms of Portugal and Spain were united. The aqueduct of the
Convent was built during the Spanish reign
The castle and Convent of Christ have fine examples of Romanesque,
Gothic, Manueline and Renaissance architectural styles.
Castle and walls
The castle of Tomar was built around 1160 on a strategic location,
over a hill and near river Nabão. It has an outer defensive wall
and a citadel (alcáçova) with a keep inside. The keep, a central
tower of residential and defensive functions, was introduced in
Portugal by the templars, and the one in Tomar is among of the
oldest in the country. Another novelty introduced in Portugal by
the templars are the round towers in the outer walls, which are
more resistant to attacks than square towers. When the town was
founded, most of its residents lived in houses located inside the
protective outer walls of the castle.
Round church
The romanesque round church of the castle (charola, rotunda) was
built in the second half of the 12th century by the Knights
Templar. From the outside, the church is a 16-side polygonal
structure, with strong butresses, round windows and a bell-tower.
Inside, the round church has a central, octogonal structure,
connected by arches to a surrounding gallery (ambulatory). The
general shape of the church is modelled after similar round
structures in Jerusalem: the Mosque of Omar and the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre.
The capitals of the columns are still romanesque (end of 12th
century) and depict vegetal and animal motifs, as well as a Daniel
in the Lions' Den scene. The style of the capitals shows the
influence of artists working on the Cathedral of Coimbra, which was
being built at the same time as the round church.
The interior of the round church is magnificently decorated with
late gothic/manueline sculpture and paintings, added during a
renovation sponsored by King Manuel I starting in 1499. The pilars
of the central octogon and the walls of the ambulatory have
polychromed statues of saints and angels under exuberant gothic
canopies, while the walls and ceilings of the ambulatory are
painted with gothic patterns and panels depicting the life of
Christ. The paintings are attributed to the court painter of Manuel
I, the Portuguese Jorge Afonso, while the sculptured decoration is
attributed to Flemish sculptor Olivier de Gand and the Spaniard
Hernán Muñoz.
Manueline nave of the church
During the administration of Prince Henry the Navigator (first half
of the 15th century), a gothic nave was added to the round church
of the Convent, thus turning the round church into a church apse.
From 1510 onwards, King Manuel I ordered the rebuilding of the nave
in the style of the time, a mix of late gothic and renaissance that
would be called manueline style by art historians. The architects
involved were the Portuguese Diogo de Arruda and the Spaniard João
de Castilho.
From the outside, the rectangular nave is covered by abundant
manueline motifs, including gargoyles, gothic pinnacles, statues
and "ropes" that remind the ones used in the ships during the Age
of Discovery, as well as the Cross of the Order of Christ and the
emblem of King Manuel I, the armillary sphere. The so-called Window
of the Chapter House (Janela do Capítulo), a huge window visible
from the Saint Barbara Cloister in the Western façade of the nave,
carries most of the typical manueline motifs: the symbols of the
Order of Christ and of Manuel I, ropes, corals and vegetal motifs.
A human figure in the bottom of the window probably represents the
designer, Diogo de Arruda. This window of the Convent constitutes
one of the masterworks of manueline decoration.
The entrance of the church is done through a magnificent lateral
portal, also decorated with abundant manueline motifs and statues
of the Virgin with the Child as well as the Prophets of the Old
Testament. This portal was designed by João de Castilho around
1530.
In the interior, the manueline nave is connected to the
romanesque round church by a large arch. The nave is covered by
beautiful ribbed vaulting and has a high choir that used to have
manueline choir stalls, unfortunately destroyed by invading
Napoleonic troops in the early 19th century. Under the high choir
there is a room that used to be the sacristy of the church. Its
window is the famous Chapter House Window already mentioned.
Cloisters
The Convent of Christ has a total of eigth cloisters, built in the
15th and 16th centuries. Some examples:
Claustro da Lavagem (Washing Cloister): Two-storey gothic
cloister built around 1433 under Henry the Navigator. The garments
of the monks used to be washed in this cloister, hence the
name.
Claustro do Cemitério (Cloister of the Cemetery): Also built under
Henry the Navigator, this gothic cloister was the burial site for
the knights and monks of the Order. The elegant twin columns of the
arches have beautiful capitals with vegetal motifs, and the walls
of the ambulatory are decorated with 16th-century tiles. In a
manueline tomb (circa 1523) rests Diogo da Gama, brother of
navigator Vasco da Gama.
Claustro de Santa Bárbara (Saint Barbara's Cloister): Built in the
16th century. The Chapter House Window and the West façade of the
manueline nave of the church are visible from this cloister.
Claustro de D. João III (Cloister of John III): Started under King
John III of Portugal, was finished during the reign of Philip I of
Portugal (also King of Spain under the name of Philip II). The
first architect was the Spaniard Diogo de Torralva, who began the
building work in 1557, only finished in 1591 by Philip II's
architect, the Italian Filipo Terzi. This magnificent, two-storey
cloister connects the dormitory of the monks to the church, and is
considered one of the most important examples of mannerist
architecture in Portugal. The storeys are connected to each other
by four elegant helicoidal stairways, located at each corner of the
cloisters.
The Convent of Christ of Tomar is one of Portugal's most important
historical and artistic monuments and has been in the World
Heritage list of UNESCO since 1983.