Odivelas Monastery
In Odivelas, a Cistercian monastery founded by King Dinis in 1295, home to his tomb; guided visits only, booking required.
Monastery of São Dinis and São Bernardo, Odivelas
In Odivelas, near the northern edge of Lisbon, the Monastery of São Dinis and São Bernardo was founded in 1295 by King Dinis on his estate of Vale de Flores and built between 1295 and 1305 for the Bernardine nuns of the Cistercian Order. Of the original Gothic building, laid out on the Cistercian model, only the east end of the church survives, with the chancel and two side chapels; the rest was profoundly altered in the reigns of João IV and João V and above all in the rebuilding that followed the 1755 earthquake, which brought Neoclassical taste to the church and the New Cloister. Inside is the Gothic tomb of King Dinis, from the 14th century and the first example of monumentality in Portuguese funerary art, and another attributed to the Infante, his grandson; the Cloister of the Moorish Woman keeps an 18th-century fountain crowned by a female figure in Moorish dress. After the religious community ended in 1888, the building housed from 1900 the Instituto Infante D. Affonso, later the Instituto de Odivelas, a school for the daughters of military personnel that closed in 2015. Since 2019 it has been managed by Odivelas City Council, which is preparing a museum there and in June 2026 opened an exhibition on the recent research into the tombs of the king and the Infante. With refurbishment work under way, it can only be seen on guided visits, with compulsory booking and groups of no more than 20 people.
Located at: Mosteiro de Odivelas
Address: Largo D. Dinis, 2675-368 Odivelas
Opening hours: guided visits only, booking compulsory (max. 20 people), usually on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month (except August): 16:00 and 17:30 from July to October, 15:00 and 16:30 in November and December
Phone: +351 219 320 942
Coordinates: 38.79129, -9.182821
Buses: 736
Metro: Odivelas (Yellow)
Opened: 1295 (731 years)
