Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cost and Hours:
€6, daily April-Sept 9:00-19:00, Oct-March 9:00-17:00, last entry
30 minutes before closing, tel. 262-505-128.
(See “Alcobaça Monastery of Santa Maria” map,
here
.)
Self-Guided Tour:
As you view the church from the expansive square facing it,
you can sense its former importance. The wings stretching to the right and left from the
facade housed monks and pilgrims. As was generally the case with monasteries, the mon-
astery was an industrial engine (making ceramics and other products), and by the 16th
century a town had grown around the abbey. When the abbey was dissolved in 1834, the
town declined, too.
Stepping inside, you find a suitably grand yet austere house of prayer—just straight
Gothic lines. The only decor is organic (such as leafy capitals).
Nave and Tombs of Dom Pedro and Inês:
A long, narrow nave leads to a pair of
finely carved Gothic tombs (from 1360). These are of Portugal's most tragic romantic
couple, Dom Pedro (King Peter I, 1320-1367, on the right) and Dona Inês de Castro (c.
1323-1355, on the left). They rest feet-to-feet in each transept, so that on Judgment Day
they'll rise and immediately see each other again. Pedro, heir to the Portuguese throne,
was hopelessly in love with the Spanish aristocrat Inês (see sidebar).
