The Church Of St. Ildefonso Photo: Church Of St. Ildefonso

Church of Saint Ildefonso is located near Batalha square. Earlier on the site of the Church of St. Ildefonso was a chapel, built in the XIII century. The chapel was dedicated to St. Alifano and also served as a gathering place for parishioners for prayers. In 1709 chapel was almost completely destroyed. It was demolished, and in this place began in the same year the construction of the new Church, which was built about 30 years. The first stage of construction was completed in 1730, when erected the main part of the Church and the tympanum, which indicated the date of construction. Finally the Church was completed in 1739; was completed two bell towers at the sides, decorated the facade.

The building was built in the Baroque style. Impressive facade of the Church, which is covered with glazed tiles "Azulejos", and inside the temple, visitors will see the splendid altarpiece. The tiles depict scenes from the life of St. Ildefonso, and images from the gospel. To cover the walls took more than 11 000 tiles above the picture worked the Portuguese artist Jorge colace, known for his work on the tiles "Azulejos". The altarpiece was made by the famous Italian architect, the master of the Italian Baroque, Nicolau Nassogne, which had a very rich imagination, but also built many other interesting buildings in Portugal. Worked on the altarpiece and set its architect Miguel Francisco da Silva.

After the hurricane in 1819 in Church restoration works were carried out. And at the siege of Porto in 1833 the Church was damaged by artillery fire. In 1967, restoration works were carried out, which were replaced by stained glass Windows.

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