The Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon is one of the most remarkable monuments of the Portuguese Age of Discoveries. From the monumental stone church visible from the Tagus to the richly gilded chapels inside, the complex reflects both the architectural ambition and the immense wealth of Portugal’s maritime empire.

Jerónimos Monastery | Mosteiro dos Jerónimos | Hieronymitenkloster | Monasterio de los Jerónimos | Monastère des Hiéronymites | 热罗尼莫斯修道院 | 제로니무스 수도원 | ジェロニモス修道院 | Klasztor Hieronimitów

Today I would like to return to a place I visited quite a long time ago – more than ten years ago – but which has stayed in my memory ever since. At the time, however, I made a rather unfortunate mistake. While travelling to Portugal, I somehow managed to leave my proper camera at home. Instead, I had to rely entirely on the camera in my mobile phone – and this was long before mobile photography reached the level we take for granted today. The device I had with me simply could not capture much detail, and the photographs it produced were limited in both resolution and quality. For years I assumed that these images would remain nothing more than vague digital memories buried somewhere in an old archive.

Recently, however, I decided to try a small experiment. With the help of artificial intelligence, I uploaded those old files and asked the system to enhance them – to recover as much detail as possible and improve their resolution. To my surprise, the results turned out far better than I had expected. I managed to retrieve a handful of usable photographs taken in this place. They are still only fragments of what I saw back then, but they provide just enough of a visual anchor to revisit this impressive structure.

Interior of the main church of the Jerónimos Monastery, front view.

The Jerónimos Monastery (Mosteiro dos Jerónimos) in Lisbon is one of the most important historical monuments in Portugal and one of the places most closely associated with the country’s past. The complex is located in the Belém district, on the banks of the Tagus River, in an area deeply connected with the Portuguese Age of Discoveries. Construction began at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries on the initiative of King Manuel I, and today the monument is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List (since 1983).

The monastery stands very close to the Tagus River and forms part of the characteristic historical landscape of Belém. When standing by the riverbank near the Belém Tower and the Padrão dos Descobrimentos – the Monument to the Discoveries – and turning one’s back to the river, the long and massive silhouette of the monastery appears in front of you. The building stretches horizontally across the space of Belém and immediately dominates the view. When standing the other way around – with your back to the monastery and facing the river – you see the two other great symbols of Portugal’s maritime past: the Monument to the Discoveries and the Belém Tower. Together with the monastery they form a distinctive historical ensemble that defines this part of Lisbon.

Three monuments of Lisbon’s Belém district: the Jerónimos Monastery, Belém Tower and the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries).

What can be seen from the river, impressive as it already is, actually represents only a part of the entire monastery complex. The long monumental structure visible from the direction of the Tagus is primarily the Church of Santa Maria de Belém, the central church of the Jerónimos Monastery and the most architecturally striking element of the ensemble. Behind it, however, extends a much larger monastic complex that is not immediately visible from the waterfront. There are the vast cloisters, arranged around a large square courtyard and famous for their richly carved Manueline arcades, which once formed the heart of monastic life. Around them were located the functional spaces of the monastery, including the chapter house, where the monks held their meetings, and the refectory, the communal dining hall. After the dissolution of the religious orders in the nineteenth century, parts of these former monastic buildings were repurposed, and today they house institutions such as the Maritime Museum and the National Archaeological Museum. What appears from the river to be a single monumental church is therefore only the visible façade of a much larger historical complex extending further inland through Belém.

The foundation of the monastery was directly connected with Portugal’s maritime expansion. Previously a small church stood on this site, where, according to tradition, Vasco da Gama prayed before departing for his voyage to India in 1497. King Manuel I decided to erect a monumental monastery here that would reflect the power of Portugal and the significance of its oceanic discoveries. The construction was financed partly through a tax on the spice trade arriving in Portugal from Asia, which further underlined the close connection between the building and the country’s global maritime network.

The monastery was entrusted to the Order of Saint Jerome, whose monks played a particular symbolic role during the Age of Discoveries. Among their responsibilities was praying for the king and for Portuguese sailors embarking on long and dangerous ocean voyages. In this way the monastery became not only an important religious centre, but also a place that symbolically accompanied Portugal’s maritime expansion.

Architecturally, the Jerónimos Monastery represents one of the finest examples of the Manueline style, a uniquely Portuguese form of late Gothic architecture. The style is characterised by extraordinarily rich decorative carving that blends plant motifs with maritime imagery and symbols of royal power. Among the decorative details one can recognise carved ropes, shells, exotic vegetation and symbols connected with the Age of Discoveries. Slender, intricately sculpted columns as well as monumental portals and cloisters together create one of the most recognisable architectural ensembles in Portugal.

Interior and the ceilings.

Inside the monastery church – the central part of the complex – one can also find the tombs of important figures in Portuguese history. Among them is Vasco da Gama, one of the most famous explorers of the Age of Discovery. The church also contains the tombs of Portuguese monarchs associated with the Aviz dynasty, further emphasising the symbolic importance of the site as a monument to Portugal’s royal power and maritime achievements.

Although the church itself is a monumental structure of pale carved stone, some of the later chapels and altars create a striking contrast – richly decorated and literally dripping with gold, much like many other churches across Portugal where gilded baroque altarpieces became a defining element of the interior. This lavish decoration was largely the result of the immense wealth that flowed into Portugal during the centuries of maritime expansion and overseas conquest, when the country became one of the richest powers in Europe. One of the chapels I managed to photograph – although capturing all that shimmering gold without proper photographic equipment proved rather difficult – is a good example of such a space, overflowing with gilded ornamentation and centred around a sculpture of Christ lying in an open coffin.

A chapel in gold

This representation belongs to a long-standing Catholic devotional tradition known as the Dead Christ (often called Cristo Morto or Senhor Morto in Iberian countries). The sculpture depicts Christ after the Crucifixion and before the Resurrection, lying in a sarcophagus or open tomb and inviting contemplation of the Passion. In Portugal such figures are often placed in richly decorated side chapels and are sometimes associated with the rituals of Holy Week, when the moment between death and resurrection is symbolically commemorated.

The history of the monastery changed in the 19th century, when Portugal introduced the suppression of religious orders as part of liberal reforms aimed at reducing the political and economic influence of the Church. In 1834 many religious orders were dissolved and their monasteries and properties were confiscated by the state. As a result, the Jerónimos Monastery ceased to function as a monastic institution. The complex itself, however, did not lose its importance. Over time its spaces began to be used for museum and representative purposes, and today the monastery remains one of Lisbon’s most important historical landmarks.

Side entrance to the church of the Jerónimos Monastery, decorated in the Manueline style, illuminated by full daylight.

As far as I remember, we actually had very little time to visit the site. In practice we managed to see only the church itself, and even that rather quickly. When planning our time in Lisbon, we essentially just passed through the church and skipped the rest of the monastery complex entirely. Shortly afterwards, however, we visited another convent – today the site of the Azulejos Museum – which surprised us just as much, with a chapel so richly gilded that the amount of gold decoration seemed almost unbelievable.

Even so, if I could go back in time – knowing what I know today and remembering the other monasteries we later visited in Portugal – I would certainly try to set aside at least an extra hour or two to explore the entire Jerónimos complex properly. The cloisters, the monastic spaces and the museums located there today would almost certainly have been well worth that additional time.