Oporto Cathedral
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The Oporto Cathedral (Portuguese: Sé do Porto), located in the historical centre of the city of Porto, in Portugal, is one of its oldest and most important monuments.
There is evidence that the city of Porto has been a bishopric seat since the times of Suevi domination, in the 5th-6th centuries. The current Cathedral of Porto, however, started being built around 1110, under the patronage of Bishop Hugo, but it took until the begining of the 13th century for it to be finished. This first romanesque building suffered many alterations during the centuries.
Still romanesque is the general structure of the façade, flanked by two towers and decorated with a beautiful rose window, and the nave with three aisles covered by barrel vaulting. The stone roof of the central aisle is supported by flying butresses, and this building was one of the first in Portugal to use this architectonic feature.
Around 1333, it was built the gothic funerary chapel of João Gordo, a Knight Hospitaller that worked for King Dinis I. His tomb is decorated with his recumbent figure and reliefs of the Apostles. Also from the gothic period dates the elegant cloister, built between the 14th and the 15th centuries during the reign of King John I. This King married English Princess Philippa of Lancaster in Oporto Cathedral in the year 1387.
The external appearance of the Cathedral was very much altered during baroque times. In 1772 a new main portal substituted the old romanesque original, and the tower cupolas were also altered. Around 1732, Italian architect Nicolau Nasoni added an elegant baroque galilee to the lateral façade of the Cathedral.
The interior was also altered during the baroque era. In one of the chapels there is a magnificent silver altarpiece, built in the second half of the 17th century by several Portuguese artists. Also in the 17th century the romanesque apse (which had an ambulatory) was torned down and a new one was built in baroque style, later decorated with new wall paintings by Nasoni and choir stalls. The altarpiece of the chapel, designed by Santos Pacheco and executed by Miguel Francisco da Silva between 1727 and 1729, is an important work of Portuguese Baroque.
The South transept arm gives acess to the gothic cloister, which is decorated with baroque tiles and chapels.
References
- Portugal/1 - Europa Romanica, Gerhard N Graf, Ediciones Encuentro, Madrid, 1987
- Portuguese Institute for Architectural Heritage [link]
- General Bureau for National Buildings and Monuments (Portugal) [link]
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