Leça do Balio Monastery, a simple view from a homeland tourist

Welcome to my 17th #monomad challenge entry!

This week, I'll take you all to a quick travel to the Leça do Balio Monastery.

I found my self, with a very longtime friend, from the times of Faculty. And it was a very nice way of getting together after all these years. He is the one that appears in some of the photographs that I publish here.

The outside of the Monastery, is like everyone, but this has a balcony with crenellations and boulders defending the main door, like the adarve of a castle.

It is presumed that the exact same place where the monastery is located today, there was a Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter (edified in the 1st century). The original construction, from the 10th century, after the Christian reconquer of Iberian Peninsula, hadn't made it to nowadays. In the second decade of the 12th century, D. Afonso Henriques (1112-1185) donated the Couto of Leça to the Order of the Hospitallers, one of the first documented Military Orders in Portuguese territory. In the primitive monastery, the Capitular House of the Order was established, which later became the seat of one of several bailiwicks, from which the toponym for the village came: Leça do Bailio.

The day was perfect for getting the right depth of field that only a cloudy sky can gives us

The church, renovated from the beginning of the 14th century, of Romanesque origin but transferred to Gothic, reflects a mix of religious and military spirit, with the interior devoted to God, but externally displaying solid walls crowned by battlements and supported by buttresses, There is also a balcony with crenellations and boulders defending the main door, like the adarve of a castle.

The main portal with four archivolts topped by a simple gable, whose capitals feature plant and animal ornaments

The true challenge to photograph with a simple smartphone... to get the right amount of light to spot on the back vitral

We found the opportunity to visit the inside, unique, since it was Sunday, and it was opened!

The baptismal font finely crafted with floral motifs, as well as the coats of arms and all the heraltics of that period

The Gothic tall arks are outstanding compared with nowadays clerical constructions

On the out side, we could see this stone urns that we could take a close look

"Hold this place as sacred. Respect it"

The all building has a unique magical mist that is common to all of the constructions from that period, where the Gothic arks, and high ceilings make a stand!

I hope you all enjoy my seventeen entry for the #monomad challenge

Stay Safe

Bibliography
"Church of Leça do Balio". Bulletin of the General Directorate of National Buildings and Monuments I. Lisbon, 1939.