Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha
Encyclopedia
Coimbra
Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...
, in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. The monastery was built in the 14th century on the left bank of the Mondego River, but had to be abandoned in the 17th century due to frequent floods. The well-preserved Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
ruins of the monastery were excavated in the late 20th century, more than 300 years after being abandoned by the nuns. The ruined church recently reopened to the public after 12 years of restorations with a new visitor center.
Middle Ages
The Monastery of Santa Clara (Saint Claire) of Coimbra was founded in the 1280s by Mor Dias as a feminine house of the Order of the Poor Clares. This early monastery was dissolved in 1311, but in 1314 it was re-founded by Queen ElizabethElizabeth of Aragon
Elizabeth of Aragon, also known as Saint Elizabeth of Portugal, T.O.S.F. , was queen consort of Portugal, a tertiary of the Franciscan Order and is venerated as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.-Biography:Elizabeth was a descendant of one of the most powerful families in Europe:...
, wife of King Dinis I
Denis of Portugal
Dinis , called the Farmer King , was the sixth King of Portugal and the Algarve. The eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile and grandson of king Alfonso X of Castile , Dinis succeeded his father in 1279.-Biography:As heir to the throne, Infante Dinis was...
. Queen Elizabeth was admired by her pious and charitable nature, and her fame led to her canonisation in 1626. The palace of the Queen, of which only ruins remain, was located near the monastery.
The works sponsored by the Queen started in 1316 on the same spot of the previous foundation and gave rise to the ensemble that exists today. The first architect associated with the monastery was Domingos Domingues, who had worked on the cloisters of the Monastery of Alcobaça
Monastery of Alcobaça
The Alcobaça Monastery is a Mediaeval Roman Catholic Monastery located in the town of Alcobaça, in central Portugal. It was founded by the first Portuguese King, Afonso Henriques, in 1153, and maintained a close association with the Kings of Portugal throughout its history.The church and monastery...
. His work was continued after 1326 by Estêvão Domingues, who had worked on the cloisters of Lisbon Cathedral
Lisbon Cathedral
The Patriarchal Cathedral of St. Mary Major is a Roman Catholic parish church located in Lisbon, Portugal. The oldest church in the city is the see of the Archdiocese of Lisbon. Since the beginning of the construction of the cathedral, in the year 1147, the building has been modified several...
. The church was consecrated in 1330 and shows the influence of the Alcobaça building in its floorplan and many other architectural details. Queen Elizabeth died in 1336 and was buried in the monastery in a magnificent Gothic tomb. A large cloister
Cloister
A cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...
was built to the South side of the church still in the 14th century.
Already in 1331 the monastery and church were flooded by the Mondego, whose banks are located nearby. The site of the foundation would prove to be inadequate, since the monastery was repeatedly invaded by the waters of the river in the following centuries. The sisters of the monastery responded by elevating the floor levels of the monastic buildings to reduce the damage caused by the floods. In spite of the problems, the monastery was frequently enriched by donations. In the early 16th century, under King Manuel I
Manuel I of Portugal
Manuel I , the Fortunate , 14th king of Portugal and the Algarves was the son of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu, , by his wife, Infanta Beatrice of Portugal...
, the church was decorated with Sevillian
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
tile
Tile
A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops...
s and several painted altarpiece
Altarpiece
An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...
s.
Decay and rescue
Around 1612, as the river flooded the monastery every year, the nuns built an elevated pavement in the church half way to the roof. Finally, in 1647, as the frequent floods made life in the monastery impossible, King John IVJohn IV of Portugal
|-|John IV was the King of Portugal and the Algarves from 1640 to his death. He was the grandson of Catherine, Duchess of Braganza, who had in 1580 claimed the Portuguese crown and sparked the struggle for the throne of Portugal. John was nicknamed John the Restorer...
ordered the nuns to abandon the structure. The last nuns left the ensemble in 1677, as a new monastery, called Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova
Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova
The Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova is a monastery in Coimbra, Portugal. It was built to replace the mediaeval Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha, located nearby, which at the time was prone to frequent flooding by the waters of the Mondego river. The monastery was built in the 17th and 18th...
(Santa Clara the New) was built on a hill nearby. The Gothic tombs of Queen Elizabeth and other royal princesses were transferred to the new building.
As the centuries passed, the old monastery fell into ruins and became partially submerged by the mud and water of the Mondego. Its historical and architectural importance led to it being declared a National Monument in 1910, and some conservation works were done in the first half of the 20th century. After 1995, a large archaeological campaign by the Instituto Português do Património Arquitectónico has removed the mud and water from the ruins, which were found to be in a remarkable good state of conservation. The excavations allowed for the recovery of a large number of architectural and decorative fragments and a better understanding of the monastery plan. In 2006 the building of an interpretation centre and new tours were announced. This phase of the project has an estimated cost of 27 M€ and was completed in April 2009 .
Ruins
The floorplan of the church of the Monastery of Santa Clara reveals the influence of the Monastery of AlcobaçaMonastery of Alcobaça
The Alcobaça Monastery is a Mediaeval Roman Catholic Monastery located in the town of Alcobaça, in central Portugal. It was founded by the first Portuguese King, Afonso Henriques, in 1153, and maintained a close association with the Kings of Portugal throughout its history.The church and monastery...
. The church nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
has three aisle
Aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of seats on both sides or with rows of seats on one side and a wall on the other...
s and is fully covered with stone vaulting
Vault (architecture)
A Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that require a counter resistance. When vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required...
, something rare in mendicant
Mendicant Orders
The mendicant orders are religious orders which depend directly on the charity of the people for their livelihood. In principle, they do not own property, either individually or collectively , believing that this was the most pure way of life to copy followed by Jesus Christ, in order that all...
monastic foundations in Portugal, which usually used wooden roofs over the nave. Another influence of Alcobaça is seen in the vault types: pointed barrel vault
Barrel vault
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve along a given distance. The curves are typically circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design...
in the central aisle and groin vault
Groin vault
A groin vault or groined vault is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. The word groin refers to the edge between the intersecting vaults; cf. ribbed vault. Sometimes the arches of groin vaults are pointed instead of round...
in the lateral ones. The structure of the column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s of the nave also resembles Alcobaça. The nave is illuminated by tall mullion
Mullion
A mullion is a vertical structural element which divides adjacent window units. The primary purpose of the mullion is as a structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Its secondary purpose may be as a rigid support to the glazing of the window...
ed windows of Gothic design and three rose window
Rose window
A Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and being divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery...
s. Unlike Alcobaça, the church of Santa Clara lacks a prominent transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
.
The nave used to be divided in two parts, one of public access and the other reserved for the nuns, separated by a dividing wall. An elevated choir, now lost, used to host Queen Elizabeth's tomb. The apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
of the church has three chapels of polygonal shape, the central chapel being the largest. The central chapel has lost its stone roof and used to be illuminated by three windows.
A portal on the South façade of the church connects it with the cloister ruins, which have been preserved up to the level of the double columns of the arches. The capital
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
s are decorated with vegetable motifs. Also visible are the remains of a Gothic fountain with a circular basin.
The excavations also revealed the foundations of the chapter house
Chapter house
A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room attached to a cathedral or collegiate church in which meetings are held. They can also be found in medieval monasteries....
, refectory, a smaller cloister and the old Palace of Queen Elisabeth.
Artwork
During the centuries the monastery and church were decorated with religious works of art that are now dispersed. The Monastery of Santa Clara-a-NovaMonastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova
The Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova is a monastery in Coimbra, Portugal. It was built to replace the mediaeval Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha, located nearby, which at the time was prone to frequent flooding by the waters of the Mondego river. The monastery was built in the 17th and 18th...
, to which the nuns were relocated in the 17th century, houses three Gothic tombs which were also relocated from Santa Clara-a-Velha, including that of Queen Elizabeth. Her tomb, dated from circa 1330, displays her full-size recumbent figure over the lid and is a magnificent work by Aragonese
Kingdom of Aragon
The Kingdom of Aragon was a medieval and early modern kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain...
sculptor Mestre Pero.
Many works of art of the monastery are now in the Machado de Castro Museum in Coimbra. Painted altarpieces include a triptych
Triptych
A triptych , from tri-= "three" + ptysso= "to fold") is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...
http://mnmachadodecastro.imc-ip.pt/pt-PT/coleccoes/Pintura/ContentDetail.aspx?id=196 of circa 1486 about the life of Claire of Assisi and a painted triptych commissioned to Flemish
Flemish people
The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...
painter Quentin Metsys in 1517 http://mnmachadodecastro.imc-ip.pt/pt-PT/coleccoes/Pintura/ContentDetail.aspx?id=198. Others pieces of sculpture http://mnmachadodecastro.imc-ip.pt/pt-PT/coleccoes/escultura/ContentDetail.aspx?id=131 and metalwork http://mnmachadodecastro.imc-ip.pt/pt-PT/coleccoes/Ourivesaria/ContentDetail.aspx?id=185 in the museum testify to the wealth and prestige of the monastery.