Frommer's Portugal. Paul Ames
practiced in secret into the 1980s. There is now a small but open community there with their own rabbi.
Jews began returning to a more tolerant Portugal in the 19th century. During World War II, neutral Portugal became a haven for many fleeing the Nazis. Although dictator António Oliveira Salazar tried to prevent Jewish refugees arriving in 1940 as Hitler’s troops marched into France, the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, defied orders and handed out visas, saving up to 30,000 lives. Salazar ruined his career and plunged his family into poverty, but Sousa Mendes is today regarded as a national hero.
President Mário Soares formally asked for forgiveness for past persecution in 1989. In 2015, Portugal’s parliament passed a law offering citizenship to the descendants of Jews expelled from the country. Today there are small Jewish communities, mostly in Lisbon, Porto, and Madeira Island, but recent genetic studies suggest that up to 20% of Portugal’s population may have Jewish ancestry.
Art & Architecture
From prehistoric carvings to world-class contemporary buildings, Portugal is packed with art and architecture that reflect the country’s history and unique style. A country the size of Maine, it has 14 UNESCO World Heritage Sites—four more than the entire United States.
Ancient Beginnings Discovered in the 1990s and saved from destruction during a dam-building project, the outdoor rock carvings in the Côa valley form some of humanity’s oldest art. The oldest of the enigmatic animal depictions date back to 22000 b.c. A state-of-the-art hilltop museum explains the site and arranges visits to the rocks.
Portugal is dotted with standing stones and prehistoric tombs. The most complete include the Almendres Cromlech, made up of circles of almost 100 menhirs near Évora that dates back to 6000 b.c., and the Great Dolmen of Comenda da Igreja, a Stone-Age burial site outside Montemor-o-Novo.
Northern Portugal contains some of Europe’s best-preserved remains of fortified hilltop villages built by ancient Celts. Those of Citânia de Briteiros near Guimarães and Monte Mozinho close to Penafiel are well worth a visit.
From Roman to Romanesque During 600 years of occupation, the Romans built cities, roads, and villas across the country. To get an idea of life in Roman Portugal, visit Conímbriga, 16km (10 miles) south of Coimbra, where the remains of a complete settlement have been excavated complete with baths, forum, theater, and mosaic-decorated private homes. Other Roman monuments include the 1st-century Temple de Diana in Évora, a bridge constructed during the reign of Emperor Trajan that’s still used in Chaves, and the well-preserved remains of ancient Coimbra beneath the Museu Machado de Castro.
Few physical traces remain of the Germanic peoples who flowed in after the Romans, although the Chapel of São Frutuoso in Braga is of Visigoth origin. The pretty town of Mertola in the Alentejo region was briefly the capital of an Arab kingdom. Its mosque was converted into the parish church but still offers the best example of Islamic architecture in Portugal. Several medieval castles also bear witness to Portugal’s Muslim past, notably that in Silves and the hilltop Castelo dos Mouros in Sintra.
As the reconquista gathered pace in the 10th century, churches in the European Romanesque style sprang up across northern Portugal. The cathedrals of Braga and Lisbon date from this time, but Sé Velha in Coimbra is where the Romanesque style is at its purest, with fewer later additions. The Rates Monastery near Póvoa de Varzim is one of the oldest Romanesque buildings. Others can be discovered along the Romanesque Route (Rota do Românico) linking over 50 churches and other monuments in the hills east of Porto. The granite Domus Municipalis (municipal house) in Bragança is a rare example of civic architecture to survive from the period.
Portugal’s most remarkable Romanesque building forms the core of the Convent of Christ in Tomar. The circular 12th-century church was built by the Knights Templar who had their base here. They copied it from the ancient churches in Jerusalem that the knights had visited during the Crusades. The whole magnificent complex, which includes later medieval and Renaissance additions, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Gothic Era The history of the Gothic style in Portugal is bookended by two fabulous monasteries, built just 25km (14 miles) apart. Alcobaça Monastery was built in the 12th century, its white stone arches following the pure, unadorned style imported from France by the Cistercian order of monks. Although the church’s exterior was significantly modified in the baroque era, the interior remains a hugely atmospheric medieval monument. Constructed 2 centuries later to celebrate a famous victory over invading Spaniards, Batalha Monastery is a flamboyant example of the ornate late Gothic style, bristling with statues, spires, and richly decorated arches. Lit by the setting sun, its limestone facade glows golden. Both monasteries are now UNESCO Sites.
Between these two masterpieces, major Gothic churches were built all around the country; the Church of São Francisco in Porto, Évora Cathedral, and the ruined Carmo convent in Lisbon are among the best. However, Santarém, high on the north bank of the Tagus River, holds the title “capital of Gothic,” thanks to the sheer number of medieval churches there.
Portugal’s Unique Manueline Style Named for King Manuel I, the monarch behind Portugal’s Era of Discoveries, the Manueline style is unique to Portugal. It combines elements of medieval Gothic and the new ideas of the Renaissance, but adds elements inspired by Portugal’s adventures on the high seas. Maritime motives become an integral part of the architecture—shells, ropes, branches of coral, and navigational instruments, as well as exotic touches brought back from distant lands.
Best-known among the Manueline monuments are the iconic Torre de Belém fortress guarding the Tagus River in Lisbon’s Belém neighborhood and the neighboring Jerónimos Monastery, a spectacular building containing the tombs of explorer Vasco da Gama, poets Luís de Camões and Fernando Pessoa, as well as King Manuel himself.
Other fine examples of the Manueline style can be found in Tomar’s Convent of Christ, the Royal Palace in Sintra, and the Monastery of Jesus in Setúbal.
The Discoveries period also saw a flowering of Portuguese painting. The country’s most cherished artwork is Nuno Gonçalves’ giant Panels of Saint Vincent, which contains portraits of 60 people, a cross-section of 15th-century society, from nobility (including Henry the Navigator) to friars and fishermen. It alone justifies a visit to Lisbon’s Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga.
Another renowned painter of the Discoveries period is Grão Vasco, best known for his sumptuous religious works. Many are displayed in the excellent Grão Vasco museum in his hometown of Viseu.
Baroque GOLD The drama and exuberance of the baroque style were embraced across the Catholic world in response to austere Protestant values. Nowhere was this truer than in Portugal and its empire, where the wealth pouring in from Brazilian gold fields in the 17th and 18th centuries fueled a spending spree on ornate churches and palaces.
Two specifically Portuguese art forms thrived in this period: talha dourada (wood carving gilded with gold leaf), and the glazed ceramic tiles known as azulejos. The combination of the intricately carved altars gleaming with gold and the soft blue-and-white tiles make church interiors of this period uniquely beautiful. Wonderful examples can be found in the São Roque church in Lisbon, the church of Santa Clara in Porto, or the tiny church of São Lourenço de Almancil in the Algarve. Elsewhere, baroque architects demand an upward gaze: The 75-meter (246-ft.) tower of the Clérigos church is a symbol of the city of Porto, while Braga and Lamego both have hilltop churches reached by monumental stairways.
A rich handicraft tradition
Aside from high art, Portugal retains a wealth of regional handicraft traditions. The small town of Arraiolos in the Alentejo is famed for carpets, woven from local wool into designs that reflect the flowers of the region. Hand-painted pottery from Coimbra is refined and colorful, based on designs from the 15th and 16th centuries. Artists around Barcelos in the Minho have always produced ceramic figures: demons, saints, and the rooster, which has become a national symbol. Delicate golden filigree jewelry is a specialty of Viana do Castelo, while Castelo Branco is famed for silk embroidery and Madeira for lacework. Many countries produce decorated ceramic tiles, but in few places are they so central to the folk-art tradition as azulejos are to Portugal.