The Jerónimos Monastery or Hieronymites Monastery
The monastery is one of the most prominent examples of the Portuguese Late Gothic Manueline style of architecture in Lisbon. It was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the nearby Tower of Belém, in 1983.
The Monastery of the Hieronymites is a royal foundation that dates back to the late 15th century. It was commissioned by King D. Manuel I and donated to the monks of Saint Hieronymus so that they would pray for the King, and pay spiritual assistance to seafarers that left the shores of Lisbon in the quest for the new world.
This shrine-like portal is large, 32 meters (105 ft) high and 12 meters (39 ft) wide, extending two stories.
Its decorated features include an abundance of gables and pinnacles, with many carved figures standing under a baldachin in carved niches, around a statue of Henry the Navigator, standing on a pedestal between the two doors.
The tympanum, above the double door, displays, in
half-relief, two scenes from the life of Saint Jerome: on the left, the removal of the thorn from the lion's paw and, on the
right, the saint's experience in the desert.
In the spandrel between these scenes is the coat of arms of king Manuel I, while the archivolt and tympanum are covered in Manueline symbols and elements.
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There are the groin vaults with wide arches and windows with tracery resting on delicate mullions.
Four inner bays rest on massive buttresses, forming broad arcades. The corner bays are linked by a diagonal arched construction and show the richly decorated corner pillars.
The cloister had a religious function as well as a representative function through its decorative ornamentation and dynastic symbolic motives, such as the armillaria, coat-of-arms, and the cross from the Order of Christ, showing the growing world power of Portugal.
