Explore Religious Heritage Across Europe

The monastery of São Martinho de Tibães was founded in the 11th century, but the main buildings of today were erected in the 17th and 18th centuries. From the 12th century it was rebuilt by Paio Guterres da Silva and occupied by the Benedictine congregation. In the 16th century, the monastery became the mother house of the Order for Portugal and Brazil. With the extinction of the religious orders in 1834, it was sold at public auction. Privately owned until 1986, the building was acquired by the Portuguese state. Today, the monastery combines several uses: one wing is used by the Carmelite Order, but the monastery also houses a hotel, a restaurant and a museum.

The Monastery of São Vicente de Fora is an emblematic monastic complex built in Lisbon between the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Monastery of St Francis Assisi is a Franciscan Monastery from the 13th century. Its church is the oldest gothic church in the region of Dalmatia. The Franciscan school was the origin of the University of Zadar. The museum of the monastery preserves many interesting artefacts. 

The Church of St Mark is an Orthodox church in Novi Karlovci. It was completed in 1883 and consecrated in 1884 on the day of St Mark the Apostle.

The Monastery of St. Agnes is a former convent of Poor Clare nuns, founded in Prague in the 1230s by St. Agnes of Bohemia, sister of King Wenceslas I, who was also the first superior. It is the first building in Bohemia built in the Gothic style. The nuns were expelled from it in 1782. The buildings, which were used for various purposes for two centuries, were restored at the end of the 20th century and now house part of the National Gallery in Prague.

The Monastery of St. Anargyroi was founded on the 11th, on the site of an ancient Greek temple. Like many monasteries in the region, he participated actively in the War of Independence (1821-1829). Renovated after the Second World War, the monastery was entrusted to a woman brotherhood.

The Monastery of St. Athanasius is a female Orthodox monastery located in southern Bulgaria. The current construction dates from the 1970s, when the monastery was traditionally renovated on the initiative of the Ministry of Culture, after years of neglect under the communist regime. By its size and space, it is one of the largest monasteries in present-day Bulgaria. According to Bulgarian archaeological and historical research in 2004, it is the oldest active monastery in Europe, believed to have been founded by Athanasius of Alexandria in 344.

The Monastery of St. George the Victorious is a female Orthodox monastery probably founded in the early 14th century, but the present complex was only built in 1835, on the initiative of Archimandrite Arsene of Galichnik. The church was painted and decorated between 1840 and 1852. Closed by the communist government in 1945, the monastery was converted into stables and fell into ruins. In 1999, a religious community resumed its activity.

The Monastery of St. Ignatios was founded on the site of an earlier monastery in 1526. Like many Greek monasteries, the Monastery of St. Ignatios played an active role against the Ottomans, and against the Nazi occupation. The monastery contains a library with 516 manuscripts, some of which date back to the 9th century.

The Monastery of St. Jovan Bigorski, founded in 1020, consists of a church, an ossuary, a defence tower, monastery buildings and a newly built visitors' house. Attacked by the Turks in the 16th century, its reconstruction did not begin until 1743. Between 1812 and 1825, the complex was considerably enlarged. The monastery is famous for its carved wooden iconostasis made between 1829 and 1835 and for its icon of St. John the Baptist, which is said to have miraculous properties.