WOBBLY CHURCH

 Since we love all that is wobbly, here is a church which looks like a pudding in stone. The photo wasn't altered in any way. The columns on the right-hand side are veering towards the right - but it's all stable, like a giant frozen jelly. Apparently the deformation was caused by the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755, but it's the main church at Vila Nova de Foz Côa, some 400 km away. Go figure.
The exterior is great too, as well as the ceiling which will get its own post.

WITH OUR THOUGHTS IN COVILHÃ

We are doing some preliminary designs for a substantial traditional building in the nearby area, and came across this image for inspiration. It's the steeple of the Misericórdia church in Covilhã. The church was allegedly built in 1601 but the steeple is from the 1940s! Probably designed by the same people who did the surrounding buildings, a feast of Fascist Baroque which would have made de Chirico's day - soon we will get to process the images for your viewing enjoyment.
As for the steeple, although the detailing is a little coarse and mechanical, its composition and proportions are lovely and add a wonderful touch of fantasy to the otherwise dull Plain Architecture temple.

Cloisters, Viseu

Sé de Viseu, the cloisters.

THE CEMETERY GATES

 Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo. The inscription reads something like:

"May you carefully consider this place of terror
Where vanities of this deceiving world are ended"
1864

Happy weekend!

INSIDE AND OUTSIDE

Sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Braga, Braga. The church came after the luscious baroque garden stairs and pavilions, hence its already "neo-classical" straightness of design. The relatively cool emotional feeling of the temple contrasts with the fireworks in stone displayed in the ascending path.

STONE COFFERS

The vaults and crossing of S. Vicente de Fora, one of the most exquisitely designed churches in Lisbon. Late 16th-early 17th century, the original architect was Filipe Terzio. A sort of High Renaissance from an estranged Italian, every piece relates to the whole and the detailing is superb, sharp and highly inventive.

THE DARK DOOR OPENING

Mafra, National Palace, inside the main church. João Frederico Ludovice, German and trained in Italy, was the architect.

STONE MADNESS II

Side Chapel, Church of São Roque, Lisbon. The intarsia work is stone madness at its best, but compared to the Chapel of S. João Baptista, in the same church, the overall design result seems rough and naive.

STONE MADNESS I

 

Capela de São João Baptista, Igreja de São Roque, Lisbon.
The church is the Portuguese "shoe-box" or "living room" type, with adjacent chapels. One of these was made in Italy - already at the time, taste was being exported everywhere. So a scale model was built, approved by the King, and years later the whole thing arrived disassembled in Lisbon in crates, a bit like an impossibly upscale Ikea closet. The design architects here were Luigi Vanvitelli and Nicola Salvi, with direction from the Italianized German Ludovice, who was working in Portugal at the time - the late 1740s. Besides the gilding and bookmatching of the stone, the architectural layout of the chapel is a fully mature Roman Baroque (albeit already in its more rigid later form) and looks especially sophisticated when in comparison to its crude local counterparts.

HAND PAINTED CEILING

Sé de Viseu.

CORNER CRAZE, BRAGA

"Perversion on every corner" - when I was in New York I heard that as a design request more than once. I bet whoever dreamt up these windows, stacked hipnotic cornices and multiple engaged sinewy pilasters had the same brief.

REALLY OLD PORTUGUESE STUFF

São Pedro das Águias near Tabuaço, Douro. Facing the river Távora, in front of steep cliffs stands this little Romanesque church with ancient hermit caves around. The entry is so close to the cold rock that it is impossible to photograph. Decorated with monsters and allegorical animals, which keep chaos out of the inner peace inside. Except for this, the details throughout are of bare simplicity and express minimalist functionality.

JUSTE-AURÉLE MEISSONIER NEVER WENT TO BRAGA

But his book probably did find its way there. André Soares was the likely "architect" of this wonderful monstrosity, a four-legged granite beast of a fountain canopy sitting in the park behind the Bom Jesus Sanctuary. The Sanctuary itself is a recognizable wonder of the Baroque vernacular (which will get several posts to itself here) but this piece is a one-off, a folly in the park too scary to be repeated.

ERMIDA DE NOSSA SENHORA DA CONCEIÇÃO

An early and rare example of Renaissance in Portugal, designed by an avantgarde Gothic architect - João de Castilho, who worked on the nearby Tomar Monastery.

BARROCAS

As the weather triumphs over the limestone, the Cross triumphs over the Dice in the church of Barrocas, Aveiro. Maybe there is some other meaning to the number on the faces of the die. But who knows, and who cares - this is as glorious a window as can be.

BLACK AND WHITE DOME

 

View of the dome at Casa da Ínsua 18th century chapel.

Casa da Ínsua, Penalva do Castelo

"BURIED IN BLACK AND WHITE"

The January issue of the magazine World of Interiors presents an article by Marie-France Boyer with photos by Eric Morin, about the crypts of São Francisco Monastery,  in Porto.

TILES

Church of São Bento da Vitória, Porto

TOMBS

Convento de São Francisco, Porto

VAULTED HALLWAY

Convento de Cristo, Tomar