Santa Cruz Monastery

The Santa Cruz Monastery was founded in 1131 by the Order of the Regular Canons of Saint Agustine. The primitive Romanesque church, of which only few remnants are visible today, dates back to the 12th century. At the beginning of the 16th century, King D. Manuel promoted an extensive campaign that gave the church its current appearance. The works included a renovated temple with a late-gothic vaulted nave, marked by two octagonal towers on the facade. A new chancel was built with space for the renovated tombs of the first kings of Portugal. Reformation of the monastery included the new chapter room, vestry (later rebuilt) and the reconstruction of the Silence cloister.

The reform of the Regular Canons of Saint Agustine, initiated by Frei Brás de Braga in 1527, begins a second campaign of 16th-century works, then boosted by D. João III. A new entrance cloister was built (now disappeared) as well as the Manga cloister and fountain, the new refectory to the north of the Silence cloister, and an extensive dormitory in the upper level of the convent, of which only a part remains today.

In the 1870's the new Town Hall building was erected over the former entrance cloister.

In the twentieth century, some structures were demolished to allow the opening of Olímpio Fernandes Street, and works were carried out to adapt some parts of the former monastery to municipal facilities.

Based on the written documents and old engravings which were known, the work consisted in the interpretation of the sixteenth-century building of the monastery and in the production of interpretation drawings: the north and west facades, plan and cross sections of the dormitory ward, sequence section of the three cloisters: Portaria, Silêncio and Manga.

• CRAVEIRO, Maria de Lurdes dos Anjos – O Mosteiro de Santa Cruz de Coimbra. Coimbra: Direcção Regional da Cultura do Centro, 2011
• CRAVEIRO, Maria de Lurdes – Renascimento em Coimbra: modelos e programas arquitectónicos. Coimbra: FLUC, 2002
• COUTO, Fernando – Mosteiro Santa Cruz de Coimbra : análise e reconstituição. Coimbra: DARQ-FCTUC, 2014. Dissertação de Mestrado em Arquitectura
• DIAS, Pedro – A Arquitectura de Coimbra na Transição do Gótico para a Renascença: 1490-1540. Coimbra: EPARTUR, 1982. Tese de Doutoramento em História da Arte
• LOBO, Rui – Santa Cruz e a Rua da Sofia: arquitectura e urbanismo do século XVI. Coimbra: Edarq, 2006
• MENDANHA, Francisco de – “La Descripçam e debuxo do moesteyro de Santa Cruz de Coimbra”, 1541; in Boletim da Biblioteca da Universidade, Vol.XIII, 1958. p.417-436
• SIPA | DGPC

Fernando Couto  ·  Inês Parreira  ·  Joana Roseiro  ·  Tânia Oliveira

2012/2013