10:00 — 18:00
Pátio das Comendadeiras de Santos 1900-312 Lisboa
* Self-guided visit
Pets are not allowed.
The access is limited, on a first-come, first-served basis, without prior registration.
Capacity limited to 30 people.
This is an entirely free event.
The Santos-o-Novo Convent, which was classified as a Property of Public Interest in 1983, is one of the culturally significant buildings most recently incorporated into the ownership of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa.
The construction of this imposing structure, which dominates one of the hills to the East of the city of Lisbon, began in 1609, following a dream of Cardinal-King D. Henrique. However, it would only be finished 76 years later, in 1685, during the reign of D. Pedro II.
The current building, which takes the form of a perfect square (80m x 80m), is organised around an open space and a two-floor cloister housing two chapels in its interior: one for Senhor dos Passos and one for Nossa Senhora da Encarnação e Sete Passos da Via-sacra. The daily life of the convent centred on this cloister: the living quarters opened out onto its first floor in a succession of doors and windows that lend the cloister’s corridors the unexpected look of an arcade in an urban square.
Nestled in the embrace of the simple architecture of the Santos-o-Novo Convent is this interior garden, notable for its topiary shrubs radiating out from the central fountain, dotted with roses and hydrangeas, in an exceptionally tranquil space.
