Braga Cathedral*

The cathedral in Braga is the oldest in Portugal and the richest of the monuments in this city. Tradition has it that the diocese of Braga was created in the iii century; but historical confirmation only goes back to the year 400. The present building is actually built on the site of another religious construction, possibly an earlier cathedral.
Work on the present construction was begun by Dom Pedro, the bishop of the diocese from 1070 to 1093, and almost all his successors left their personal mark on the building whether in small or large scale alterations. The governing chapter of the cathedral also imitated the archbishops during the periods when the See was vacant. Therefore, very little remains of the original building other than the foundations and the primitive plan, as well as a few singular decorative details such as two arches over the original Romanesque main door, sculpted with scenes from the mediaeval Romance of Renard the Fox.
The exterior, with two towers on the façade, is very characteristic of the great Portuguese Romanesque cathedrals, though radical alterations have taken place over the centuries. A late 15th century galilee (porch) was closed in the 18th century by a very lovely iron grille which the archbishop, Dom Diogo de Sousa (1505-1532) had built to protect the chancel. The huge, carved stone coat-of-arms of archbishop, Dom Rodrigo de Moura Teles (1704-1728) was placed on the front, and the oratory and coping of the towers were built in the first quarter of the 18th century.
The interior with a nave and two aisles, transept and east end with five chapels is extremely austere. During the baroque period large windows were put in, altars were changed and walls covered with stucco and paintings; so the cathedral gradually turned into a celebratory festival, an appeal to the senses. It remained like this until the mid 20th century when work carried out by the Direcção Geral dos Edifícios e Monumentos Nacionais restored the supposedly mediaeval look of the church in line with the restoration criteria of the time. Except for the chancel, all the chapels at the east end have retained the 18th century alterations to the architecture and altar pieces.
The original chancel is known to have been very much smaller, for archaeological vestiges from the paleo-Christian and late-mediaeval church remain in the subsoil. Dom Diogo de Sousa introduced a number of changes, namely to the very lovely vaulting, designed by the architect Juan of Castile at the beginning of the 16th century, a lost stone retable and altar frontal. He conserved, however, the magnificent, 14th century, French image of St. Mary of Braga.
The plan of the chapels in the transept was influenced by that of the sacristy, all of which were altered at the beginning of the 18th century by the master mason, Manuel Fernandes da Silva. The glazed, painted tile wall covering in the chapel of São Pedro de Rates is of particular interest, dating from 1715, it depicts scenes from the life of the saint and is the work of the master craftsman, António de Oliveira Bernardes. Other items worthy of note are the very fine, neo-classical carved, gilded woodwork in the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament (Capela do Santíssimo Sacramento), as well as its magnificent frontal by Miguel Coelho, carved in 1718, and inspired by the painting The Church Triumphant by Rubens.
The sacristy, was designed by the court architect, João Antunes in 1698, and executed by Pascoal Fernandes and his son, Manuel Fernandes da Silva. The architectural style was something quite new to the Braga of that time; so much so that the city, not quite knowing how to evolve it further, found it easier to return to the old, familiar Mannerist style.
In the upper choir, the choir stalls and organs with their superb carved, gilded woodwork are exceptional both in design and execution. The choir stalls (1737), the work of the Oporto architect and woodcarver, Miguel Francisco da Silva are considered to be the finest example of work carried out in Portugal during the reign of João v, the Joanine period, while the two organ cases (1737-1739) are regarded as being among the finest constructed in Europe, carved and sculpted by Marceliano de Araújo with an incredible profusion of elements highly characteristic of the carved, gilded woodwork of the Joanine period, overflowing with sculpted figures, satyrs and dolphins. The mechanical part of the organ was the work of the Galician master organ maker, Friar Simão Fontanes. All of this is dominated by the Betrothal of the Virgin a fresco by Manuel Furtado de Mendonça.
The cloister, dating from the beginning of the 19th century; replaced a Gothic cloister which was demolished at the end of the 18th century. It links the Treasury with the chapels of Dom Lourenço Vicente, the archbishop who rebuilt the Chapel of Kings (Capela dos Reis), and that of Our Lady of Pity (Nossa Senhora da Piedade). The former contains the Gothic tomb of the archbishop, and also the tombs of Henry of Burgundy and Teresa of Leon, the parents of the first king of Portugal, Afonso Henriques.
The chapel of Our Lady of Pity was founded by Dom Diogo de Sousa in 1513 and contains his tomb, the work of an unknown Coimbra artist, but possibly the one who sculpted the tombs of the parents of the first king of Portugal in the previous chapel. The original image of Senhora do Leite, the work of another Coimbra artist, the unknown Master of the Royal Tombs, is now in this chapel. The rococo retable of Our Lady of Blessed Memory (Nossa Senhora da Boa Memória) is also worthy of note.
Next to the lateral door which gives onto Rua do Souto is a space traditionally called the Cloister of Santo Amaro, the apses of which possibly belong to the original project, here the vaulting is covered by painting dating from the end of the 15th century.
Two other independent chapels form part of the monumental assemblage of Braga cathedral, that of St. Gerald (São Geraldo) which was constructed originally in the 12th century, though down through the centuries it has undergone a series of alterations, primarily during the baroque period though its façade was completely reconstructed in the restoration carried out in the 1940s. The interior space, remodelled by Dom Rodrigo de Moura Teles, and chosen as the resting place for his tomb, is covered with glazed painted tiles, azulejos, which are reputed to be the work of the great António de Oliveira Bernardes.
The lateral walls of Glory chapel (Capela da Glória), the work of archbishop Dom Gonçalo Pereira (1236-1248), are covered in a geometric decoration made up of huge squares, one of the oldest examples of fresco painting in Portugal. The tomb of the archbishop, built in 1334 by Master Pero of Coimbra and by Telo Garcia, a native of Lisbon, is a very fine example of 14th century funerary sculpture.
The Treasury, at the side of the cathedral, can be reached through the cloister. It was created in 1930 and contains numerous pieces collected down through the centuries.

Sacristy, by
João Antunes (1698)

Chancel, by Diogo
of Castile (1509)

Nave

Reliquary retable and cupboards, end of 17th century

Organ, carved woodwork
by Marceliano de Araújo (1737-1739)

Choir stall, carved woodwork by Miguel Francisco da Silva (1737)

Choir stall detail

Tomb of Prince Afonso,
15th century

Glory Chapel, tomb of Dom Gonçalo Pereira, 14th century