the vault is a rope tied in a knot
Look up when you go in. The ribs of the main nave vault were carved in stone to look like a thick rope tied in a knot in the middle. It's Manueline with nautical vocabulary, and it's the kind of detail that makes the difference between a cathedral and this cathedral.
The cathedral sits on a promontory, with heavy towers giving it the look of a fortress. It was built over a primitive Suebi-Visigothic temple, whose structure turned up in recent excavations. Construction began in the 12th century, in the time of D. Afonso Henriques, and underwent a major overhaul in the 13th century under D. Dinis. The current Mannerist facade dates from the mid-17th century: the earlier Renaissance one collapsed in 1635, taking the Manueline portal with it. In the six niches at the top of the facade stand Santa Maria da Assunção, São Teotónio (patron of the city) and the four evangelists.
The chancel was originally decorated with the altarpiece by Vasco Fernandes, known as Grão Vasco, depicting scenes from the Life of Christ. That altarpiece is now at the Museu Grão Vasco, right next door, and in the chancel there's a Baroque altarpiece from the time of D. João V. The choir stalls are from the 18th century, in Brazilian jacaranda. The sacristy, from 1574, has paintings on the wooden ceiling and walls covered in 17th-century polychrome tiles.
The cloister was commissioned by D. Miguel da Silva, the bishop who brought the Renaissance to Viseu and was patron to Grão Vasco. The Cathedral's Treasury-Museum holds two 13th-century reliquary chests from the School of Limoges. Leaving the cathedral means heading further into the upper city of Viseu: the Museum is right opposite, in the old Paço dos Três Escalões.
what you'll find inside
- the Manueline vault with ribs carved to look like a rope tied in a knot in the middle
- the Ançã stone vault bosses, with royal mottoes and episcopal coats of arms
- the choir stalls in Brazilian jacaranda
- the sacristy of 1574, with walls covered in 17th-century polychrome tiles
- the Renaissance cloister of D. Miguel da Silva
