Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Esperança and Convent

This richly decorated small chapel was erected, together with the convent to which it belongs and where still about a dozen nuns are living, in the 16th century. This chapel’s fame comes mainly from the cult of the image of Santo Cristo dos Milagres (‘Jesus Christ of the Miracles’), whose lavishly with jewels adorned statue is kept in the lower choir. A present offered to the nuns of the convent by Pope Paul II in 1530, this statue is the centre of all religious festivities on the fifth Sunday after Easter. The chapel is divided into two choirs, which are separated by an iron lattice. The upper choir boasts an elaborately carved high altar. The lower choir of the chapel is ornate with gilded sculptures and 18th-century multicoloured glazed tiles, by the Portuguese artist Diogo Bernardes, of priceless beauty.

The whole convent complex, which can easily be recognized by its high square tower characterized by its window rows, houses a valuable religious treasure – the Santo Cristo statue is part of it – among which magnificent ceiling paintings, jewels, sacral objects and a reliquary, which has been collected since the 17th century.

Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Esperança

Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Esperança

Otherwise the cloister is of great sobriety. In the garden, which is sheltered by the exterior wall of the convent grounds, you will find a bench where the local poet Antero de Quental committed suicide in 1891, of which an anchor with the inscription ‘Esperança’ (Hope) on the exterior façade reminds.