1 "

Mosteiro dos Jerónimos

 C9 ⌂ Praça do Império (combined ticket for monastery and Torre de Belém available) @ 714, 727, 728, 729, 751 v 15 £ Belém # 10am–5:30pm Tue–Sun (to 6:30pm May–Sep) ¢ Public hols ∑ mosteirojeronimos.gov.pt

Belém’s most popular tourist attraction, this highly ornate monastery is a National Monument and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

A monument to the wealth of the Age of Discovery, the monastery was commissioned by Manuel I around 1501, and was financed largely by “pepper money” – a tax levied on spices, precious stones and gold. The monastery was cared for by the Order of St Jerome (Hieronymites) until 1834, when all religious orders were disbanded. Great figures from Portugal’s history are entombed here – but one tomb stands empty: that of the “longed for” Dom Sebastião, the young king who never returned from battle in 1578.

t João de Castilho’s pure Manueline cloisters are adorned with delicate tracery and richly carved arches.

Experience Belém

t The decorated exterior and interior of the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos

Did You Know?

Eighteenth-century azulejos in the rectory depict the Feeding of the Five Thousand.