DK Travel : Lisbon : Sé Catedral

Sé Catedral

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Lisbon’s cathedral was built shortly after Dom Afonso Henriques had taken Lisbon from the Moors in 1147, and stands on on the site once occupied by the city’s main mosque. The crenellated Romanesque building we see today is a restoration and reconstruction, because the cathedral suffered damage from earthquakes and was rebuilt in various architectural fashions. The Sé is also an important archeological site, with new finds made regularly beneath the cloister – originally excavated to reinforce the building’s foundations.
The Sé is a very dark church, and enlightenment seems a distant prospect. Much of interest in the chapels is literally obscured. Head for the lighter cloister, and go in the afternoon, when the low light enters the façade’s rose window. A great place for a relaxed drink in the neighbourhood is Pois, Café , whose Austrian owners are helping to keep Alfama cosmopolitan. For more Lisbon places of worship See Churches and Monasteries

Top 10 Features

1. Rose Window

1. Rose Window

Reconstructed using parts of the original, the rose window softens the façade’s rather severe aspect, but unfortunately lets in only a limited amount of light.
2. Belltowers

2. Belltowers

These stocky towers – defining features of the Sé – echo those of Coimbra’s cathedral, built a few years earlier by the same master builder, Frei Roberto. A taller third tower over the crossing collapsed in the 1755 earthquake (see Sé Catedral ).
3. Romanesque Nave

3. Romanesque Nave

Little remains of the original cathedral beyond the renovated nave. It gives onto a chancel enclosed by an ambulatory, a 14th-century addition.
4. Gothic Ambulatory Chapels

4. Gothic Ambulatory Chapels

The Chapel of São Cosme and São Damião is one of nine on the ambulatory. Look out for the tombs of nobleman Lopo Fernandes Pacheco and his wife, Maria Villalobos.
5. Capela de Bartolomeu Joanes

5. Capela de Bartolomeu Joanes

This Gothic side chapel was sponsored by a wealthy Lisbon merchant in 1324. In addition to the founder’s sculpted tomb, it contains a later eight-panel retable and a detailed nativity scene from 1766, by Machado de Castro.
6. St Anthony’s Font

Tradition has it that Fernando Martins Bulhões (later St Anthony) was baptized in this font – which now bears a tile panel of the saint preaching to the fishes. He is also said to have had his early education at the cathedral school.
7. Cloister

7. Cloister

The Gothic cloister, reached through one of the ambulatory’s chapels, was an early addition to the Sé. Some of its decoration anticipates the Manueline style.
8. 13th-century Iron Railing

8. 13th-century Iron Railing

One of the cloister’s chapels retains its original 13th-century iron railing, the only one of its kind to survive in Portugal.
9. Archeological Finds

9. Archeological Finds

Remains left by Moors, Visigoths, Romans and Phoenicians have been found in the excavation of the cloister.
10. Treasury

10. Treasury

The first-floor Treasury is a museum of religious art, with some important holdings. Its most famous treasure, the relics of St Vincent (see Igreja de São Vicente ), was lost in the 1755 earthquake.

Practical Information

The Sé is a very dark church, and enlightenment seems a distant prospect. Much of interest in the chapels is literally obscured. Head for the lighter cloister, and go in the afternoon, when the low light enters the façade’s rose window. A great place for a relaxed drink in the neighbourhood is Pois, Café , whose Austrian owners are helping to keep Alfama cosmopolitan. Largo da Sé 21 886 67 52 Cloister 10am–5pm Mon–Sat, 2–5pm Sun Adm €2.50 (concessions €1.25) Treasury 10am–5pm Mon–Sat Adm €2.50 (concessions €1.25)