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Monastery of Saharna

Monastery of Saharna

Saharna, MD

The monastery of Saharna is one of the oldest monastic establishments in Moldova. The monastic complex is composed of two monasteries: the cave monastery of the Annunciation and the monastery of the Holy Trinity. The latter monastery was founded in 1776, but less is known about the cave monastery, whose date of foundation is uncertain. Between 1818 and 1821, the Church of the Holy Trinity was built and became the main temple of the monastery. In 1857, the cave monastery was restored. In the 1960s, a psychiatric hospital was opened by the Soviets on the premises of the former monastery. The monastery was reopened in 1991.

Monastery of Saint Andrew of Ancede

Monastery of Saint Andrew of Ancede

Baião, PT

A monastic community existing in 1141, when Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal, granted it the "Carta de Couto" [place with privileges], settled on a hillside facing the Douro. The Canons Regular of Saint Augustine made Ancede an important economic, cultural and spiritual centre. This prosperity allowed the investment in assets, of which the church and the monastic complex are examples. Although the traces of the Romanesque Church may be summarized in the rosette and vestments on the walls of the chevet, the volumetry this suggests that the medieval church would have had considerable dimensions. It was destroyed in the 16th century when the Monastery was transferred to the Dominicans. At that time, an adjacent church would have been built to the parishioners. Both were destroyed in the late seventeenth century, to give way to the current three-nave temple. In the chancel, the Baroque and Neoclassical elements combine with the Romanesque rosette. The walls of the aisles comprise paintings from the 16th to the 18th centuries, the pulpit and the choir and, in the sacristy, the mobile and the set of 18th-century reliquaries. In the churchyard, the Chapel of the Lord of Good Delivery highlights one of the most notable periods of the Monastery: the 18th century. This Baroque Chapel with an octagon-shaped layout provides a fascinating narrative of the life of Christ.

Monastery of Saint John the Theologian

Monastery of Saint John the Theologian

Patmos, GR

The Holy Monastery of St. John the Theologian is an Orthodox monastery founded in 1088 on the island of Patmos at the location where both Catholics and Orthodox believe that John the Apostle wrote the Gospel and the Revelation. Since 1999, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Monastery of Saint Martin of Mancelos

Monastery of Saint Martin of Mancelos

Amarante, PT

Monastery of private foundation already mentioned in 1120, perhaps in the scope of the lineage of the Portocarreiros and after of the Fonsecas, Mancelos is an example of manorial intervention in the creation and maintenance of private churches. Having been integrated into the Order of Canons Regular of Saint Augustine, it is likely that the date, 1166, inscribed on a stone block of the Church, bears witness to the consecration or dedication of the temple. However, the remaining architectural traces refer to the 13th century, as this chronology is most evident in the main portal. This is sheltered by the church porch, which explains why it is still in good condition. The capitals were elegantly carved and the plain tympanum is supported by two figures standing in atlantes poses. The church porch and the tower, among other elements, such as the battlements, provide grandeur to the Church, profoundly changed in the centuries after its construction. This is evidenced by the scars on the ornaments and structural additions. On the south side, where the cloister [inner courtyard of a monastery] would be, an arcosolium still guards a tomb. Inside, only the triumphal arch brings to mind the building's Romanesque style, for most of that space today is the outcome of counter-reformation interventions. In the cemetery next to the Monastery is the burial place of painter Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso (1887-1918), a major figure of Portuguese Modernism.

Monastery of Saint Mary of Cárquere

Monastery of Saint Mary of Cárquere

Resende, PT

Of the Romanesque construction of the monastic complex of Cárquere, of which the spatial organization still prevails, nowadays, besides the tower, only the crevice in the funeral chapel of the Resendes remains.Cárquere binds with the feudal power of this family, overlapping history and the legend that credits the foundation of the Monastery to Egas Moniz, the schoolmaster and governor of King Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal, after the miraculous healing of the king's legs. Inside, the crevice in the pantheon of the Resendes presents geometric ornamentation and, outside, the motifs of the so-called beak-heads [animal head with a prominent beak]. The capitals feature representations of birds. The images of the Virgin of Cárquere and of the Virgin of Milk also remain from medieval times. The former has raised people's curiosity by its size and, especially, for having been found, according to legend, in the wilderness where, later on, the Monastery would be founded. The Church's structure is a blend of various styles: the ribbed vault and the chancel window are of Gothic nature, and the arrangement of main and north-side portals comprises the "Manueline style" (Portuguese late Gothic). The remaining mural paintings on the nave are from the same "Manueline" period and represent Saint Anthony and Saint Lucia and a set of fluttering angels.

Monastery of Saint Mary of Pombeiro

Monastery of Saint Mary of Pombeiro

Felgueiras, PT

Saint Mary of Pombeiro was one of the most important Benedictine monasteries in the area between the Douro and Minho rivers and was founded by D. Gomes Echiegues and his wife Gontroda in 1102. The Church, built between the 12th and 13th centuries, features three naves, divided by diaphragm-arches with painted wooden ceilings on the lateral naves. The original plant of the chancel, rebuilt in the 18th century, was semi-circular, typical of the Romanesque style, as were the still existing apses [secondary chapels]. The main portal capitals are a remarkable example of Romanesque sculpture. The two tombs with sculpture were part of the funerary centre sheltered in the now-vanished galilee, which was linked to the nobility of this territory, including families such as the Sousas or Sousões and the Ribavizelas. In the apses, there are two themes of mural painting: one probably representing Saint Blaise and another representing Saint Amarus and Saint Placidus. The image of the Patron featured in the main retable (the main altar) is possibly a Gothic-style work from between the 14th and 15th centuries. Much was altered between the 16th to 20th centuries: the Church received a set of rococo-style gilded wood, which was worked by the renowned friar José de Santo António Ferreira Vilaça.

Monastery of Saint Mary of Vila Boa do Bispo

Monastery of Saint Mary of Vila Boa do Bispo

Marco de Canaveses, PT

Located on a hillside on the left bank of the river Tâmega, Vila Boa do Bispo impresses by its monumentality. These dimensions can be explained by the importance that it held throughout the Medieval and Modern periods, emphasizing the attention given by the feudal power, including the lineage of the Gascos (or of the Ribadouros). Although profoundly changed in the Modern Era, the Romanesque traces help to understand the historical richness of this Monastery. In the main façade, the two blind arcades that flank the portal stand out as being very original and bearing a composition typical of the Romanesque found on the Braga-Rates axis. These and other elements scattered across the structure put this Romanesque building of Vila Boa do Bispo between the 12th and 13th centuries. It is likely that, given the existence of buttresses, the primitive chancel was both quadrangular and vaulted. Another element that recalls the medieval building and its link to the nobility of the region are the remaining tombs which indicate burials in the 13th and 14th centuries. The interior is marked by the Baroque spirit, which, through several techniques and materials, has created a particularly luminous and monumental space. Under the coffered ceiling of the chancel, a set of mural paintings was identified as being from the 16th century, thus emphasizing the culture of the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine.

Monastery of Saint Peter of Cête

Monastery of Saint Peter of Cête

Paredes, PT

The foundation of the Monastery of Saint Peter of Cête, traditionally attributed to the nobleman D. Gonçalo Oveques, dates back to the 10th century. It was restored between the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 14th century at the will of the abbot D. Estevão Anes, evidence of which may be seen in the limestone inscription near his tomb. Only the first rows of the nave's walls and the south portal facing the cloister from the 10th-century building were kept and used. Despite the Gothic reformation, the Church has long borne witness to Romanesque shapes and construction. The bell tower shelters the restored burial chapel of D. Gonçalo Oveques, along with the chapter hall and the cloister of the Manueline period [15th-16th centuries].In 1551, the Monastery ceased to belong to the Order of Saint Benedict and was annexed to the College of the Grace of the Hermits of Saint Augustine in Coimbra. Highlighted inside the Monastery are the images of Saint Peter, Saint Lucia and Our Lady of Grace all in limestone, as well as the mural painting of Saint Sebastian which dates back to the 16th century.

Monastery of Saint Peter of Ferreira

Monastery of Saint Peter of Ferreira

Paços de Ferreira, PT

The Church of the Monastery of Saint Peter of Ferreira is one of the most expressive Portuguese Romanesque monuments. At the end of the 12th century, the clergymen of the Episcopal Cathedral of Porto held the rights to a portion of the Monastery, the remaining parts belonging to a few noble families, such as the Sousas [or Sousões] and the Maias. The main portal is embedded in the pentagonal body. Its pierced archivolts [circular combs] have been compared to both those on the Gate of the Bishop of the Cathedral of Zamora, the Church of Saint Martin of Salamanca, and decorative Arabic art in Seville from the second half of the 12th century. The Church of Ferreira gathers façades and sculptural motifs from several geographic origins and stonemasons' workshops: Zamora-Compostela, Coimbra-Porto and Braga-Unhão. One such motif is the representation of minstrels [artists] in one of the capitals of the chancel. Annexed to the main façade is the ruin of a funerary galilee, of which very few examples are left in Portugal. Two burial pieces remain in the Monastery: a tomb and its tombstone with a statue of nobleman João Vasques da Granja laying down, dressed as a pilgrim and holding a staff.

Monastery of Saint-Bonaventure

Monastery of Saint-Bonaventure

Visoko, BA

The monastery of Saint-Bonaventure dates back to 1900. A first Franciscan monastery was built in Mili near Visoko in 1340-41 after the establishment of the Bosnian Franciscan vicariate. It was demolished at the end of the 17th century after the passage of Eugene of Savoy in 1697. The Franciscans returned to Visoko two centuries later, in 1900. In that year a monastery and a church were built, designed by Ivan Holtz.

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