Igreja e Mosteiro da Santa Cruz, Coimbra

Located on the banks of the Mondego River, the Santa Cruz Monastery is one of the oldest and most important Monasteries of Coimbra, founded in 1131 by the Conegos Regrantes de Santo Agostinho outside the walls that surrounded the City. D. Afonso Henriques I Rei de Portugal came here to attend religious services when he returned from his battles for Christian Reconquista, and it is here that his tomb is found, as well as that of his son D. Sancho I. Santa Cruz was the cradle of the first studies mediaevals in Portugal that would strengthen the emerging Royal power through their educational action. It was within its walls that one of the most universal figures of Western culture of the 12th / 13th centuries Santo António Doutor da Igreja deepened his theological studies and the vast knowledge of the sacred scriptures evident in his sermons. The Church, the cloister and the chapels were rebuilt in the 16th century, according to a plan by Diogo Boitaca becoming one of the most beautiful works of the Portuguese artistic renaissance. It still preserves magnificent details, the façade, the pulpit and the tomb of the Kings, the cloister of silence, the bas-reliefs of the cloisters and the pictures of the sacristy. Nowadays, it is possible to visit the interior of the Monastery, which is the National Pantheon and where, in addition to the tombs of the two reis of Portugal, one can see the sacred art museum with the relics of the first Portuguese Saint, S. Teotónio, the cloister of silence, the high choir, located on the second floor and giving access to a panoramic view of the Church and a shrine.

I have already attended and attended eucharists in this MONASTERY with a majestic front, with a lot of history, now closed, very degraded and in need of restoration restoration and cleaning of exteriors