t The Charola on the south side of the Convento de Cristo
Crowning the wooded hill that overlooks Tomar, the Convento de Cristo is a magnificent complex of chapels, cloisters and a medieval castle, showing the wealth and importance of the Order of Christ.
Founded in 1160 by the Grand Master of the Templars, the Convent of Christ still retains some reminders of these monk-knights and the inheritors of their mantle, the Order of Christ. Under Henry the Navigator, the governor of the order from 1418, cloisters were built between the Charola (the Templars’ church) and the fortress, but it was the reign of João III (1521–57) that saw the greatest changes. Architects such as João de Castilho and Diogo de Arruda, engaged to express the order’s power and royal patronage in stone, built the church and cloisters with dazzling Manueline flourishes, which reached a crescendo with the window in the west front of the church.
t The Charola on the south side of the Convento de Cristo
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During the 12th and 13th centuries, the crusading Order of the Knights Templar helped the Portuguese in their battle against the Moors. In return they were rewarded with extensive lands and political power. In 1314, Pope Clement V was forced to suppress the order but, in Portugal, King Dinis renamed it the Order of Christ, and it inherited the Templar’s properties. In 1356, Tomar became the order's headquarters.