the largest collection of Mannerist painting in the country is here
At the top of the city, two tall towers mark the facade and everything opens up from there. Construction began in 1556, on the orders of D. João III, on the site where the Igreja de Santa Maria do Castelo previously stood. The last stone of the vault was laid in 1575. In the 18th century, the facade was redesigned with a Baroque marble porch and the towers gained height.
The Diocese of Portalegre had been created a few years earlier, in 1549, and the construction of the cathedral is its architectural response. The first bishop was D. Julião de Alva, a Spaniard and chaplain to Queen D. Catarina de Áustria. The greatest contributor to the decoration was the Carmelite D. Frei Amador Arrais, who commissioned Mannerist altarpieces that are still in place today.
The interior has three naves, barrel vaults with ribs, and 28 windows letting light in from all sides. The main altarpiece has eight panels. In total there are ninety-six Mannerist paintings distributed across the main altar and side chapels, a collection without equal in the country. To the right of the altar is the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, to the left the Chapel of St Peter. The pulpits and the chancel grilles are in marble.
The cloister was added in the 18th century and the sacristy has tiles from the same period depicting the Flight into Egypt. Between 2021 and 2023 the cathedral was restored, and during that work mural paintings from the 16th to 18th centuries that had been covered up were discovered.
what you'll find inside
- the 96 Mannerist paintings across the altarpieces, the largest collection of its kind in Portugal
- the eight-panel main altarpiece, with work by the Portalegre sculptor Gaspar Coelho
- three naves with ribbed barrel vaults, lit by 28 windows
- the marble pulpits and chancel grilles
- the 18th-century cloister
- the sacristy lined with 18th-century tiles depicting the Flight into Egypt
