Founded in 1153 by the first king of Portugal, Afonso I, and the last to be founded by the Order of Cistercians during the lifetime of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the Alcobaça Monastery is one of the most complete and well-preserved Cistercian architectural complexes in all of Europe. With a vast territory of around 440 km2 (the famous “Coutos of Alcobaça”) and protected by the Portuguese monarchy over the centuries, the “Royal Abbey” of Alcobaça became the burial place of the kings Afonso II and Afonso III and queens Urraca of Castile and Beatrice of Castile, as well as King Peter I and Inês de Castro, whose tragic love story was immortalised in their magnificent tombs.
The Santa Maria of Alcobaça Monastery was built between the 12th and 15th centuries, with a programme based on the concept of its mother abbey, Clairvaux. Following the creation of the Autonomous Congregation of Portugal (1567), which made it the “head” of the Portuguese Cistercians, and according to new spatial and functional requirements and aesthetic criteria, the monastery underwent significant architectural extensions (16th to 18th century), in particular the construction of the Abbot's Palace and Guest House, the Kitchen, the Room of the Kings, the Cloister of the Cardinal, the Reliquary Chapel, and the Desterro Chapel, a masterpiece of Portuguese Baroque. Worth special mention the reformulated façade (a symbol of the power of the novel congregation), which bears Italian sculptures of Carrara marble depicting Saint Mary, Saint Benedict, and Saint Bernard.
Following the abolition of religious orders in Portugal (1834), the monastery became an asset of the Crown and, since then, has been the property of the Portuguese State, overseen by the Ministry of Culture and managed by Museus e Monumentos de Portugal, E.P.E.
During the second half of the 19th and early 20th century, it underwent various vicissitudes, but kept its unity and integrity intact, having been the target of a restoration campaign in “Unity of Style” (mid-20th century), led by the former DGEMN, which “returned” it to its original appearance.
In 1989, the Alcobaça Monastery was added to UNESCO’s List of World Heritage of Humanity, regarded as a Masterpiece of Human Creative Genius (criterion I), for the architecture of the church, a perfect expression of the Cistercian aesthetic and the spirituality of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and for the tombs of King Peter I and Inês de Castro, the greatest exponents of sculpted sarcophagi in Portugal; and (criterion IV) for being an outstanding example of a great medieval establishment, preserving most of the primitive regular loci and posterior buildings, as well as an ingenious hydraulic system.
During its more than 700 years of existence, the Alcobaça Abbey was one of the most flourishing European centres of production and dissemination of Culture: while still respecting the Unity of the “Cistercian World”, the Alcobaça monks developed their own Identity, of which its architecture is the maximum expression, particularly in the adoption of constructive solutions that were unique in Europe at the time (such as the three naves of same height in the church), and the manuscripts produced in its Scriptorium, now conserved in the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal.
Today, maintaining the Spirit of place and its cultural vocation, the Alcobaça Monastery attracts visitors from all around the world, assuming itself as a stage for the celebration of cultural diversity and a place of dialogue for Peace. To preserve and to communicate its Outstanding Universal Value, in the present and for the future, is our mission.
Ana Pagará
Director of Alcobaça Monastery
