2005 © Oficina Virtual de Turismo
During the time of the Portuguese Discoveries, Imperial ambitions were recorded
on the stones of Graça Church. It was built in a classical style that was so
fashionable during the Renaissance (of which this church for Augustine monks is
one of the first examples in Portugal, and the Church was made to serve as a
tomb fro its patron: D. João III. The architects were Miguel de Arruda and
Diogo de Torralva. Nicolau de Chanterene also worked on it, and he was the most
renowned French sculptor working in Portugal in the 16th Century.
The toms of the patrons - D. Francisco de Portugal and his wife – now displayed
in the Évora Museum.
It is one of the most significant works of our Renaissance period, to which
contributed the humanist culture of D. João III. He personally ordered a title
of Roman origin to be carved onto the façade: “Father of the Country”. On the
portico, at the top, we can see the marks of the aspirations of the Empire: the
“four children of Grace”, statues of the giants (or atlantes) who carry the
four parts of the world where the Portuguese anchored.
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