3350 - Bearing His Cross


Now we are on the hill, this is Igreja da Graça, church of a monastery of the Order of Saint Augustine.

The church itself is not spectacular, it looks pretty much like a typical Jesuit church to me, but likely I’m missing a few fine points 🙂

As far as I understood, there would have been a cloister to visit, but it was closed due to restoration works. Doesn’t matter, we’ll get to a fine cloister in São Vicente.

Two things were interesting here. The first is the ceiling (it would be interesting to see the original colors), and the second is the peculiar kind of altar, a little bit in the shape of a mountain.

This type of altar is very common in Lisbon and I can’t remember having seen anything comparable anywhere else in Europe. Thus, while the church could be in every country under Catholic reign during the age of Baroque, the altar marks it as distinctly portuguese.

On the right side of the altar, stairs lead up to a separate room, where a statue of Jesus bearing the cross is stored. Once every year it is carried through the parish, leading an Easter procession.

The view outside goes west and it was definitely worth the detour. The official name of the place is Miradouro Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, named after a famous (an to me completely unknown) Portuguese author.