Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
a half-block uphill (car parking lot visible in distance), take the first right, and continue
straight (on Rua Dom Pedro V). Hang a left just after passing a small plaza, and you are
in the main square.
If you're arriving by car, follow the
Mosteiro
or
estação rodoviário
(bus station) signs
at the roundabout. A parking lot just uphill from the bus station is currently free, and
streets in front of the monastery have plenty of pay-and-display parking.
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Cistercian Monastery of Santa Maria
—This abbey church, despite its fully
Baroque facade, represents the best Gothic building in Portugal. It's also the country's
largest church, and a clean and bright break from the heavier Iberian norm. Afonso Hen-
riques began construction in 1178 after taking the nearby town of Santarém from the
Moors.
The first Cistercian monks arrived in 1228 and proceeded to make this one of the most
powerful abbeys of the Cistercian Order and a cultural center of 13th-century Portugal.
This simple abbey was designed to be filled with hard work, prayer, and total silence.
