Church of Santa Engrácia
National Pantheon was located in the Jerónimos Monastery, before the end of the (prolonged) works. Eça de Queiroz “moved” to Santa Engrácia.
José Maria de. The remains were transferred to the historic site this Wednesday, January 8th.
Wednesday morning was full of hours-long lives, which showed the entire ceremony. And, in between, many listeners or viewers will have heard that the writer’s remains were entering the Church of Santa Engrácia.
“As? The works of Santa Engrácia?” – some Portuguese people will have asked, those who did not yet know that the Church of Santa Engrácia really exists.
It is in São Vicente, Lisbon. There was an original church there, a 16th century temple, but it didn’t last long due to a strong storm.
A first stone of the current building was launched in 1682; as works ended in 1966. They just passed… 284 years.
Yes, hence the “works of Santa Engrácia” when talking about a construction or remodeling project that never seems to end.
But it is clear that the building has not undergone renovations for 284 consecutive years. It’s not the Sagrada Familia. Between advances and setbacks, with the death of the responsible architect João Antunes, with an earthquake and regime changes in between (and with other priorities of successive managers), the wait was really long.
But the first monument was born there baroque in the country. It has a privileged view over the Tagus River; evokes the Italian temple of San Pietro in Montorio and San Satiro in Milan.
And, since 1966, it became the “home” of – which until then was in the Jerónimos Monastery. It’s a national monument, of course.
Finally, an explanation about the name: the original church – an order of Infanta D. Maria, daughter of King D. Manuel I – was to receive the reliquary of Engrácia de Zaragoza, a virgin martyr from the 3rd century; and at the same time the parish Santa Engrácia was created (now part of São Vicente, as already mentioned).
Nuno Teixeira da Silva, ZAP //
