Grijó

Monasterio de São Salvador

The Monastery of San Salvador is located in the middle of the Camino de Santiago through the town of Grijó, belonging to the town of Vila Nova de Gaia.

This monastery was built in 922 by two local priest brothers known as Guterre and Ausindo Soares in order to house the community of monks of the Order of St. Augustine. It was at the beginning of the 12th century when this community abandoned the monastery, remaining in ruins until the end of the 16th century, when the friars decided to return to Grijó. From 1572 onwards, a major restoration of the building was carried out, which could not be completely finished until 1629. In the following century, specifically in the year 1770, the goods belonging to the said monastery were transferred to the new Convent of Mafra, also changing the conventual residence of the monks.

As for its structure, this monastic complex consists of the church building and the cloister.

The church, with a single nave, is dominated by the mixture of architectural elements, especially on its facade. This facade stands out for its broad similarity to the church of the Monastery of San Salvador de Moreira da Maia, being primitive Grijó. It is divided into three levels: on the lower one is the entrance portico flanked by semicircular arches, on the central floor there is a large window surrounded by reliefs of the images of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, each placed in a niche, and on the upper floor there are two other small windows that follow the same style as the central one. All this set ends with a triangular pediment in the center of which is the clock on which rests the cross of Christ.

In its interior and in spite of having only one nave, there is a set of six side chapels, each of them decorated with a Mannerist style altarpiece. The head of the church is covered by a vault of coffers decorated with geometric motifs. Under it is the main altarpiece in which the Transfiguration of Christ is represented.

As for the cloister, it is divided into two floors which are distributed around a square courtyard. The first floor is formed by a set of columns of Ionic order and in the second, of Corinthian order. This building stands out for the random polychrome tiles representing the apostles and the masters of the monastic complex.

In the north wing of the cloister sits the tomb of Don Rodrigo Sancho, illegitimate son of King Sancho I, this burial mound is considered the oldest of the Portuguese funerary elements thanks to the recumbent statue that remains on it.