The White Church - Vera Cruz - Portel

Daniel Arrhakis - Visual Arts
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The White Church - Vera Cruz - Portel
The White Church - Vera Cruz - Portel

The White Church - Vera Cruz - Portel

The Church of Vera Cruz, also known as the Church of Vera Cruz de Marmelar, belonged to the former monastery of the Order of Malta. It was founded at the end of the 13th century by D. Afonso Pires Farinha, who participated in the 7th crusade to Jerusalem, from where he brought the relic of Santo Lenho, still kept inside today.

This small fragment of wood, believed to have belonged to the cross of Christ, and which is embedded in a reliquary, attracts countless believers and curious people from all over the country to the small village.

The origins of the founding of the church-monastery of Vera Cruz are very remote. The medieval temple was built on the ruins of an old Visigoth monastery, from which the collateral chapels still survive. The current design of the church is a consequence of renovations from the 16th to 19th centuries.

The church presents a very relevant construction, through the building mass that stands out from the landscape. The temple has two towers finished in a cone, the north gable cut vertically by buttresses, with the entire building covered in white.
On the main facade, there are two symmetrical bell towers and an entrance atrium. On the south facade, the broken-arch portal dates back to one of the construction phases.

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Taken on: March 20, 2024
Sets appears in:   • Vera Cruz - Portel - 360   
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