Cloister of King John III at the Convento de Cristo

As I was exploring the Convento de Cristo. It became clear to be that this place seems to be product of master craftsmanship. The church in particular was a very impressive piece of architecture that would probably even surpasss the monastery at Bathalha. However, one feature which didn’t impress me at the Convento de Cristo was the design of their cloister. The first cloister I encountered was a bit of a disppointment since it was a rather ordinary looking cloister when compared to the rest of the church. However, I didn’t know that there were several great cloisters here a the Convento de Cristo.

The next cloister I encountered was the Cloister of King John III. This was another two story cloister but it seems that there was much more effort put into this. From a quick look I would have thought that this cloister was a classically designed cloister. However, it seems that it has included some designs from Diogo de Torralva, a notable architect at that time and also European Mannerism. It seems that there was an effort to bring back classical architecture with modern touches at that time. The result is the Cloister of King John III. Apparently, the cloister was ordered to be destroyed mid-construction, because it was labelled to be dangerous. However, after the death of the architect Torralva, construction resumed under the direction of his successor.

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