Convento de Cristo

The old Templar Castle walls surround the Convento de Cristo convent inside. Be sure to allow enough time to investigate fully the elaborate complex and its multiple cloisters The Templar church, called the rotunda, has 16 sides, in imitation of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Two stellar examples of Manueline-style architecture are found here in the entrance and window of the church, both painstakingly and ornately carved. Manueline decorative motifs, as you’ll note here, emphasized marine elements such as masts, ropes, and anchor chains, as well as natural ones such as trees.