Church and Convent of Chelas

Church and Convent of Chelas – Monastery of São Félix and Santo Adrião

On Largo de Chelas, in the old core of the district, the monastery of Chelas has origins that predate the founding of the kingdom: the Inventory of Architectural Heritage mentions the arrival of the relics of Saint Felix in the seventh century and, later, those of Saints Adrian and Natalia. Between 1147 and 1154 Afonso Henriques ordered the building to be rebuilt and gave it to the Templars; by 1290 it was held by the Order of Saint Augustine, as a women's monastery of canonesses regular. In the first quarter of the sixteenth century a Manueline campaign renewed the church and convent, of which the doorway and the galilee porch remain. The church, with a single nave and a rear choir, was badly damaged by the 1755 earthquake and wholly rebuilt in 1757, except for the façade, and enriched with carved woodwork and a large choir. With the dissolution of the religious orders in 1834, the nuns remained until the death of the last one in 1878. The Manueline doorway and galilee porch were classified as a National Monument in 1930. The complex is today a military installation, occupied by the Army General Archive and the Military Historical Archive, and has no published visiting hours, so entry is possible only on occasional openings or by prior contact with the bodies that occupy it.

Located at: Património Cultural (SIPA)
Address: Largo de Chelas, 1900-206 Lisboa
Opening hours: No visiting hours published; military installation with occasional visits only
Coordinates: 38.7396323, -9.1177339
Buses: 794, 34B, 720, 730
Metro: Olaias (Red), Bela Vista (Red)
Train: Cintura Line, Marvila Station