Igreja de Santa Engrácia
The Igreja de Santa Engrácia , [i'gɾeʒɐ dɨ 'sɐ̃tɐ ẽ'gɾasiɐ] , in German Church of St. Engrácia , is a large 17th century Baroque church in the Freguesia São Vicente in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon . The church, which could only be completed in the 20th century, now serves as the “National Pantheon ” ( Panteão Nacional , [pɐ̃ti'ɐ̃ũ nɐsiu'naɫ] ) and was therefore never used as a place of worship .
history
The current building of the Igreja de Santa Engrácia replaced several churches that had previously existed in the same place, which were also named after the 12th century martyr from Braga, St. Engrácia . The first church was donated by Princess Maria , daughter of the third marriage of the Portuguese King Manuel I , around 1568. The first construction work for the current church building began in 1681 after the previous ones had partially collapsed. The building was managed by João Antunes , royal architect and at the time one of Portugal's most famous baroque architects.
The construction work for the new church dragged on from 1682 to 1712, until Antunes died. The then King João V was not interested in the new church in Alfama , he preferred to invest the tax money in the gigantic convent of Mafra . The church remained unfinished until the 20th century. So the name Obras de Santa Engrácia , in German construction work of Santa Engrácia , became a synonym for long, unfinished works in common parlance. Ultimately, Portuguese politicians decided to finish the church during the Estado Novo . Therefore, the church, especially the dome, was completed and consecrated on it by 1966.
architecture
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João Antunes had presented an architectural design for the Igreja de Santa Engrácia that was unique in Portugal until then. The church with the oversized, central dome has a symmetrical floor plan in the shape of a Greek cross . At every corner of the church there are prism-like towers, the tops of which, however, were never completed, so that today there is a viewing platform on the four towers around the central dome. The facade of the church was designed by the Italian baroque architect Francesco Borromini . The main front of the church to the west has a large portico with three arches, each arch is decorated with a statue.
The interior of the church is dominated by the arches and the nave of the crossing . Both the floor and the walls of the church are adorned with different colored marble structures.
organ
The organ from the 18th century comes from the Catedral Sé Patriarcal . The instrument was built by the organ builder Joaquim António Peres Fontanes and was last restored in 1966. It has 29 stops on two manuals and a pedal.
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Panteão Nacional
In 1966, during the dictatorship under Salazar , the church, after it was completed, was converted into a national pantheon based on the French model . For this reason, some people were subsequently exhumed to be buried in the Igreja de Santa Engrácia . Buried here are the President Manuel de Arriaga , Teófilo Braga , Sidónio Pais and Óscar Carmona , general and opposition presidential candidate Humberto Delgado , the writers João de Deus , Almeida Garrett , Guerra Junqueiro and Aquilino Ribeiro and the fado singer Amalia Rodrigues and the football players Eusébio . From 1953 to 2003 the Romanian King Charles II was buried here before his remains were transferred to his homeland ( Curtea de Argeș ).
There are also some cenotaphs for “heroes of Portuguese history” such as Luís de Camoes , Pedro Álvares Cabral , Afonso de Albuquerque , Nuno Álvares Pereira , Vasco da Gama and Heinrich the Navigator .
Since August 2003 the Santa Cruz Monastery in Coimbra has also had the status of a "Panteão Nacional", since the first two Portuguese kings, Afonso Henriques and Sancho I , are buried there. That is why there have been two buildings in Portugal since then that have the same name as “Panteão Nacional”.
Individual evidence
Web links
- Information about Igreja de Santa Engrácia on the website of the Portuguese Monument Protection Authority (Portuguese)
Coordinates: 38 ° 42 '54.1 " N , 9 ° 7' 28.7" W.