Jerónimos Monastery: The Manueline Masterpiece of Spices

Why is it significant?

Stand on the sun-warmed limestone of Praça do Império and look across the gardens toward the three-hundred-meter limestone facade of the Jerónimos Monastery.

Key Facts

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Stand on the sun-warmed limestone of Praça do Império and look across the gardens toward the three-hundred-meter limestone facade of the Jerónimos Monastery. Built in the unique, exuberant Portuguese Manueline style—late Gothic interwoven with maritime ropes, coral branches, armillary spheres, and sea monsters—this monastery is the crowning architectural monument to Portugal's Golden Age of Discovery. King Manuel the First ordered construction to begin in fifteen zero one to celebrate Vasco da Gama's successful return from India, having pioneered the oceanic sea route that broke the Venetian monopoly on spices. The staggering construction costs were financed by the Vinto dos Pimentas, a five percent royal tax levied on all imports of black pepper, cinnamon, and cloves brought home from Asia. Step inside the South Portal into the church of Santa Maria: in the transept rest the carved marble tombs of explorer Vasco da Gama and national poet Luís de Camões, supported on the backs of stone lions. Walk just two minutes east along the tram lines to the historic blue-and-white bakery of Pastéis de Belém.