Thousands of metres of tile
Cloisters covered in azulejo showing La Fontaine's fables and Portuguese history.
Deensel — CC BY 2.0 · Berthold Werner — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sonse — CC BY 2.0 · Øyvind Holmstad — CC BY-SA 4.0
Pay. The church is large but is not why the place is known, and everything that makes this monastery remarkable — the tiles, the pantheon, the roof — sits behind the ticket. Anyone who stops at the church leaves thinking they saw it when they saw nothing.
An old open-air market held on Tuesdays and Saturdays in the adjoining square, selling everything from antiques and old books to second-hand clothes and junk. The name is historic and says nothing about it today. If you visit on one of those days, make the two one trip.
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A late sixteenth-century monastery and church on a hill above the Alfama, among the largest religious buildings in Lisbon and one of the few that survived the 1755 earthquake without total destruction. Its best-known feature is not the church but the cloisters: their walls are entirely covered in blue and white azulejo tiling, in huge panels showing La Fontaine's fables and scenes from Portuguese history and the taking of Lisbon. This is among the largest concentrations of tilework anywhere, covering thousands of square metres. The building also holds the pantheon of the House of Braganza, the family that ruled Portugal from the seventeenth century until the monarchy was abolished in 1910. Its kings and queens are all here in one hall, the last kings of Portugal among them. From the monastery roof there is a wide view over Lisbon, the Tagus and the Alfama directly below — among the best views in the city and one of the least crowded. It stands beside the Feira da Ladra flea market, held on Tuesdays and Saturdays, so the two combine easily.
Cloisters covered in azulejo showing La Fontaine's fables and Portuguese history.
Portugal's kings and queens in a single hall, down to the last of them.
Lisbon, the Tagus and the Alfama below — among the best and least crowded views.
Alfama district, east of central Lisbon