Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
circa 1500. The tracery in the arches features the cross of the Order of Christ (headed at
one time by Prince Henry the Navigator) and armillary spheres—skeletal “globes” that
showed what was then considered the center of the universe: planet Earth. The tracery is
supported by delicate columns with shells, pearls, and coils of rope, plus artichokes and
lotus flowers from the recently explored Orient.
Stop here and picture Dominican monks in white robes, blue capes, and tonsured hair-
cuts (shaved crown) meditating as they slowly circled this garden courtyard. They'd stop
to wash their hands at the washbasin (
lavabo,
in the northwest corner, with a great view
back at the church) before stepping into the adjoining refectory (dining hall) for a meal.
• Continue to the...
ChapterRoom:
The self-supporting star-vaulted ceiling spans 60 feet, an engineering
tour-de-force by Master Huguet, a foreigner who became chief architect in 1402. Huguet
brought Flamboyant Gothic decoration to the church's sober style. The ceiling was con-
sidered so dangerous to build (it collapsed twice) that only prisoners condemned to death
were allowed to work on it. (Today, unknowing tourists are allowed to wander under it.)
The architect who helped Huguet come up with the strong-enough, interlocking, spider-
web design for this vast vault supposedly silenced skeptics by personally spending the
night in this room. (It even survived the 1755 earthquake.) He's remembered with a little
portrait figurine supporting the column in the far right corner of the room. Besides this
ceiling, Huguet designed the Founders' Chapel and the Unfinished Chapels.
Portugal's House of Avis and Its Coat of Arms
Seen on monuments at Belém, Batalha, Sagres, and even on the modern Portuguese
flag, the Avis coat of arms is a symbol of the glorious Age of Discovery, when Por-
tugal was ruled by kings of the Avis family.
