2005 © Oficina Virtual de Turismo
The buildings of the Confraternity of Clergymen comprise the Church, the House of the Clergymen (secretariat and infirmary) and the Tower, and are the most representative of the activity of the painter/architect Nicolau Nasoni in Porto, the city where he worked from 1725 to the time of his death in 1773. Born in Italy, Nasoni transferred to the city - after a stay in Rome - an artistic language that spread from painting to architecture. With the spatial conception of Clérigos, he asserted himself as a bearer of an expression that goes beyond what is merely ornamental, and thus became a full architect of the Roman Baroque as regards contents and form. The unusual elliptical nave of the church, among the other religious spaces of the city, alongside the careful treatment of the elevations and the covering system, justify his mastery of the art of conceiving spaces. He also knew how to take advantage of the building's localisation, by placing the rear tower on the highest side of the area, thus making it the greatest emblem of the city.
In 1731 the dean of the Porto's Cathedral, who was also president of the Confraternity and protector of the artist, charged him of conceiving a plan for their own premises, on a land located outside the old medieval wall. The foundation stone was laid in the following year and in 1748 mass was celebrated for the first time, although the church was not totally completed. The frontispiece was ready in 1750. The building that would hold the secretariat and the infirmary was built next and was finished in 1759. Finally, the tower was erected in 1763. To materialise the bold Nasonian plan, several renowned artists of the Porto's Baroque were put in charge of the building yard: first, António Pereira "insigne na Architectura" ("illustrious in Architecture") and secondly, Miguel Francisco da Silva, architect and wood-carver, both responsible for some works of their own creation and who were true leaders of the Porto's Baroque during the reign of King John I.
The fusiform plan of the whole has the church on the lower level and the tower on the eastern side. The House of the Clergymen unites both constructions, appearing only on two façades. The spatiality of the church defines a nave limited by two rectangular bodies: a deep one, flanked by two corridors that give access to the annexed buildings, and the other one by the façade.
The staircase, which was neglected in the 19th century, further reinforces the verticality of the frontispiece, which is a beautiful scenographic composition. Divided in two storeys, it shows a balanced composition between structural elements, spans and two niches (for the statues of St Peter and St Philip Neri), noticeable for their luxuriant and dramatic repertoire and which are natural to an illusionist painter: festoons, garlands, traceries, flame-like ornaments, the triple crown and the papal cross. These elements are denser as they ascend and the privileged area is the tympanum, which is delimited by a zigzagging fronton. Of the lateral façades, the one facing north is worthy of notice, since the medieval wall concealed the one facing south.
The magnificent retable of the chancel is a singular piece in the city of Porto since it was executed in marble of various colours. It was idealised by architect Manuel dos Santos Porto, in 1767. It was concluded in 1780 and introduces us to the rococo universe. Completing the reading of this space, and on both sides, stand the organs and the choir-stalls. The execution of the organ, on the side of the Epistle, was charged in 1774 to the organ-builder Dom Sebastião Ciais Ferraz da Cunha. Among the artistic contents, the retable of the House of the Clergymen is also worthy of special notice. José Teixeira Guimarães designed it in 1762. The wooden panel of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, as well as the beautiful rocaille piece of the Holy Family, are also worthy of notice.
The tower, which was the final construction, completes the reading of the whole. It is by itself a masterpiece of the international baroque. It is arranged by degrees in six areas, the last one of which erupts in an artistic language. Here, a balcony presents itself -as it has done in the past- as a platform to the spectacular contemplation of the city. A symbol of the baroque city, an emblem of the present Porto, the whole of Clérigos elevates Porto's baroque architecture to its best.
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