We had a very good touring day of Lisbon’s Belem district.
We started the day with a tour of the Maritime Museum.
It is house in part of the Mosterios de Jeronimos, Monastery of St. Jerome.
It is called the Pepper Cathedral because it was built with the King’s profits from the Pepper trade.
He held a monopoly on the commodity. And of course the poor people gave money with a promise of getting into heaven.
We went into the cloisters where the monks lived. They lived lives of poverty, but did it in style.
We were lucky to have Luisa Gomes as a guide. She pointed out all of the little things. Like the faces to the left of her to depict the peoples in the new world that Portugal discovered.
I thought I needed to show an altar in a small earthquake/firedamaged cathederal in the Baixa district. It is in honor of Our Lady of Fatima. I attend her name sake school in Albuquerque from grades 1 to 8. It was a good school that taught good values via the guilt method.
It was a really good day. Tomorrow we head to Vigo Spain and tour to San Compastello.
1 comment:
Some interesting shots there. I like the long room where half is sunlit, half is not.
Lots of paintings in there!
That is some church though. I guess you won't see too many of those -- (Portuguese late Gothic. I looked it up in Wikipedia. Your guide was right, about the pepper.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerónimos_Monastery
It says a lot of history took place there. Vasco da Gama hung out there.
I guess Portugal was once a big naval power. I bet the maritime museum was interesting.
I like that picture with the sails.
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