The Alentejo city of Evora is a living museum, and its arcaded squares, churches and palaces form a remarkably coherent picture of Portugal’s long history.
Evora has been shaped by the busy hands of successive inhabitants for more than two thousand years. Roman Evora was an important provincial centre, the Moors built resilient defences and added their own architectural traditions, and after the Christian reconquista, successive Portuguese kings transformed the city, constructing churches, convents, and ostentatious palaces. The city as relatively unscathed by the great earthquake of 1755 which destroyed a number of cities across Portugal – as result, Evora is a city where ancient, medieval, and contemporary architecture sit comfortably side-by-side.
Praca do Giraldo.
Evora’s centre is compact so allow yourself the pleasure of wandering without too much haste. The grand Praca do Giraldo, heart of the city, is the natural starting point. The square as you see it today largely took shape during Evora’s great period of urban renewal in the 16th century, although its origins are older – some of the arcades date from the 14th century when the praca was the city’s principal marketplace. It takes its name from Geraldo Geraldes – he captured Evora from the Muslims in 1167, and ius although some historical sources give 1165 or 1166. Look closely at the city’s coat of arms and you’ll see Geraldo on horseback, sword in hand. To celebrate his victory, legend says Geraldes demolished a Roman triumphal arch which once marked the entrance to the square, using the stone to construct the nearby fountain.
In truth, the arch was demolished much later – during the construction of the Baroque-Rococo Igreja de Santo Antao church in the 15th century. Its Renaissance facade is framed by two bell towers which house an unusual piece of Portugal’s musical heritage: a carillon of ten bells played from a mechanical keyboard. The instrument was silent for decades before a painstaking restoration began in 2022, with the aim not only of repairing the bells and their mechanism but of reviving the tradition of playing them by hand. The restored carillon was blessed in May 2023, and if you’re lucky, you may hear the bells ringing across the square during your stay.
The Se de Evora and the Templo Romano.
Follow Rua 5 de Outubro uphill and you’ll come to the Se de Evora. Located at the highest part of the old city, the cathedral is one of Portugal’s great medieval buildings. A small chapel was consecrated here in 1204, but the much larger cathedral which followed was developed through successive campaigns, creating today’s unusual mix of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Its massive granite exterior has something of a fortress about it, and there’s a long tradition connecting the cathedral with the country’s crusading Age of Discoveries. Vasco da Gama’s expedition flags were blessed here before his pioneering voyage to India – a fitting association for a cathedral built during the period when Portugal was beginning to expand beyond Europe.
It’s a short walk to one of Evora’s most recognisable landmarks, the Templo Romano. It’s often referred to as Diana’s Temple, although there’s no evidence to confirm it was dedicated to the Roman goddess. The surviving columns and foundations were constructed in the 1st Century during the reign of Augustus – they formed part of the forum and are thought to have been associated with the imperial cult: the Roman practice of honouring emperors as divine figures, to reinforce the authority of the state. After the fall of Rome, the temple was gradually absorbed into the fabric of the medieval Evora, with its columns and walls being incorporated into the city’s defences. The medieval additions were wrapped around the Roman remains for centuries, concealing most of the original monument – as interest in Portugal’s ancient past grew, these later structures were progressively removed, revealing today’s impressive Roman remains. Like so much of Evora, the temple is a reminder that the city’s history is not neatly divided into separate periods – each generation has adapted, reused, and rebuilt upon what came before.
The Museu Nacional Frei Manuel do Cenaculo faces the temple and houses an extraordinary collection reflecting the long history of the city. Brother Cenaculo was an 18th century archbishop, scholar and avid collector of art and archaeology – the curators have combined his collection with archaeological finds and preserved religious artworks from across the wider region, to create a journey from prehistoric Alentejo to the present day. One of the highlights is a remarkable Flemish altarpiece – a series of thirteen panels, painted in Evora around 1500, depicting the Life of the Virgin. The sculpture collection also includes architectural fragments rescued from the city’s lost religious buildings.
The Capela dos Ossos and the Palacio de Dom Manuel.
Returning to the Praca do Giraldo and heading south, you’ll come to the Igreja de Sao Francisco. Constructed in the 15th century, its design combines Manueline and Mudejar architectural traditions, with a touch of the Renaissance. It was closely associated with the Portugal’s first royal dynasty, the House of Avis – the Infante Afonso, son of Dom Joao II, was married to Isabel of Castile here in 1490. Behind the church lies one of Evora’s more macabre landmarks – the Capela dos Ossos. Built in the 17th century, its naves are lined with human bones and skulls – anthropological research suggests that the remains represent around 5,000 individuals.
The bones came from burial grounds associated with the Franciscan convent and were gathered together when pressure on burial space became increasingly acute. Rather than reinterring them, the monks arranged the remains within the chapel, as a stark, visible meditation on mortality. It’s an extraordinary building in which death has become part of the architecture, and the inscription above the chapel door reads Nos ossos que aqui estamos pelos vossos esperamos: We, who are here as bones, await yours.
The Palacio de Dom Manuel and the Agua de Prata aqueduct.
The nearby Palacio de Dom Manuel is all that remains of Evora’s grand royal palace. Dom Joao I (1357-1433) adapted the former Convento de Sao Francisco for royal use in the early 15th century, and by the reigns of Dom Joao II (1481-1495), the city had become the preferred residence of the Portuguese court. Dom Manuel I (1469-1521) embellished the complex after becoming king in 1495, adding royal apartments, gardens and galleries: the surviving Galeria das Damas gives a feel for how the palace looked following Manuel’s reign.
The palace’s importance gradually declined as later generations of the monarchy preferred life in Lisbon. The 1580 succession crisis saw Philip of Spain on the Portuguese throne with a court firmly based in Madrid, further reducing the importance of the Evora palace. Over the following centuries, much of the old palace disappeared as buildings were altered or demolished, with the Galeria das Damas as the principal surviving fragment. In 1865, it was handed to the municipality, which turned the building into an archaeological museum, theatre and exhibition space. The Jardim Publico occupies part of what was once the palace’s royal gardens, while the surviving Manueline-Mudéjar gallery is essentially a fragment of a much larger complex. The Teatro Eborense it was badly damaged by fire in 1916, and remained in a ruined state until 1943, when the Portuguese heritage authorities restored the surviving parts of the old palace. The building was declared a National Monument in 1910 and, following a more recent restoration, now houses the Centro Interpretativo da Cidade de Evora.
The northern-most point of the old city is marked by the Porta Velha da Lagoa, one of the original gates from Dom Alfonso V’s medieval ramparts. From here you can follow the imposing Agua de Prata aqueduct as it enters the city – built between 1531 and 1537 during the reign of Dom Joao III (1502-1557) by his royal architect Francisco de Arruda, the aqueduct carried water into Evora from springs around in Graca do Divor area, roughly 12km away. It was one of the great public works of Renaissance Portugal and much of the system remains part of the city’s historic landscape – particularly around Rua do Cano, where houses have been directly against, and in places within, the structure of the aqueduct; absorbed into the everyday architecture of the Evora.
