Lisbon Cathedral
Lisbon's oldest church, begun in 1147, with its choir loft, walkway between the towers and the Treasury of the Patriarchal Monstrance.
Lisbon Cathedral – Church of Santa Maria Maior and Cathedral Treasury
Construction of Lisbon Cathedral is thought to have begun in 1147, in the reign of King Afonso Henriques, immediately after the city was taken from the Moors, and it is therefore regarded as the oldest church in today's capital. The first bishop was the English crusader Gilbert of Hastings, and the works were finished in the first decades of the thirteenth century. The Romanesque building, with a Latin-cross plan and three naves, was designed by Master Robert and recalls the Old Cathedral of Coimbra. Later came the Gothic cloister, begun in the reign of King Dinis, and the chevet with ambulatory commissioned by King Afonso IV, the only Gothic cathedral ambulatory in the country. The 1755 earthquake brought down the chancel, the south tower and the lantern tower, and the new chancel was built between 1769 and 1771. The restorations by Augusto Fuschini and António do Couto Abreu in the early twentieth century gave it its present neo-Romanesque appearance. A National Monument since 1910, it was reinaugurated in 1940. The ticket includes the climb to the choir loft, built in 1952, with views over the nave and the rose window, the walkway between the towers and the Treasury, open since 1993 in four rooms, whose highlights include the reliquaries of St Vincent and the Patriarchal Monstrance, the most remarkable piece of Portuguese liturgical plate of the eighteenth century. In one of the ambulatory chapels stands Machado de Castro's nativity scene of 1766.
Located at: Sé de Lisboa
Address: Largo da Sé, 1100-585 Lisboa
Opening hours: Monday to Saturday: November to March 10:00-18:00 (last admission 17:30); April to October 9:30-19:00 (last admission 18:30); open on civil public holidays; closed on Sundays, holy days, Christmas Day and New Year's Day
Phone: +351 218 866 752
Coordinates: 38.7098185, -9.1328001
Buses: 737, 10B, 728, 711, 746, 759, 783, 735, 781, 782
Tram: 12E, 28E, 15E, 25E
Metro: Terreiro do Paço (Blue), Baixa-Chiado (Blue, Green)
Train: Sintra Line, Rossio Station
Boat: Terreiro do Paço River Station
Opened: 1147 (879 years)
