Central Pillar with Vaulted Ceiling at the Church of Santa Maria
The Church of Santa Maria as part of the Jerónimos Monastery is one of the most impressive churches I have seen lately. It is a shining example of a Manueline church. One could probably spend the entire afternoon appreciating the details of the church. Not all of the church is actually open to ticket holders. I found out that there is a hidden room to the right of the church. It is not really hidden since anyone can see it but it is blocked off by another ticket booth. I would have thought that the entire church would have been open to everybody who bought the main entrance ticket.
Wall of Small Drawers at the Church of Santa Maria
Visitors needs to pay a few more euros to go in this room. Unsurprisingly, there weren’t a lot of people in the room, in fact you can count them with a single hand. The main feature of this rooms is the central pillar which connected to the roof the same way as pillars of the main church do. The result is that the pillar melds into the vaulted ceiling producing a flower like pattern with its ribbing. It is actually quite nice to look at but probably because of the size of the room, they had to limit the number of visitors by charging an extra fee. I just felt that since I was already there, I might as well shell out a little more to see this special room.
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