Évora: the Roman and cathedral core: a self-guided walk
By Alleytale
Roman stone, a medieval cathedral and Renaissance fountains in the heart of Évora
Roman, medieval and Renaissance Évora sit within a few streets of each other. Water is one thread: the square's fountain, the Roman baths and the fountain at the Portas de Moura. Cardinal Henry is another, since he ordered both the church beside the square and the fountain where you finish.
The stops
The fountain in the middle of the square comes from the 1570s and has eight jets, one for each of the eight streets that lead to it. The aqueduct that supplied Évora originally ended in this square, and houses, shops and cafes were later built between its arches. In 1483 Fernando II, Duke of Braganza, was executed here in front of his brother-in-law, King John II.
Photo: Ingo Mehling — CC BY-SA 4.0 This hall church on the Praça do Giraldo went up between 1557 and 1563 for Cardinal Henry, Archbishop of Évora, on the site of an older hermitage of Santo Antoninho. An earthquake in 1568 wrecked its roof and killed eight people under the rubble. Inside, the high altar has a rare marble frontal of the Apostles from the 14th century, brought from that old hermitage.
Photo: F Delventhal from Outside Washington, D.C., US — CC BY 2.0 A first church here dates from 1302. It was enlarged in 1550 and rebuilt in 1680, and it was the seat of its own parish until 1840. Look above the main door for the high-relief of the patron saint, Saint James. Inside, the single nave has walls covered in tile panels of Old and New Testament scenes, under a vault painted all over with murals.
Photo: kenward — CC BY 2.0 The remains of a Roman bath complex lie inside the building of today's city hall, a site known in the Middle Ages as the Castelo Velho, the old castle. The baths date from the 1st century and were in use until at least the 4th. The hot room, called the laconicum, and the furnace, the praefurnium, are what stand out.
Photo: DiogoBaptista — CC BY-SA 4.0 The palace was built partly on the old Roman-Visigothic walls of Évora's castle, and its pentagonal medieval tower, the Torre das Cinco Quinas, has been a National Monument since 1920. Fernando II, Duke of Braganza, was held prisoner here before he was beheaded in the Praça do Giraldo in 1483, where you began. The Lóios church next door is part of the same complex.
Photo: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL — CC BY-SA 2.0 D. Rodrigo, squire to King Afonso V, founded this church in 1485, and it was consecrated in 1491. The tile panels on its side walls are by the Lisbon master António de Oliveira Bernardes and are date-marked 1711. The church sits on Évora's acropolis, right beside the Roman temple, the next stop.
Photo: ho visto nina volare from Italy — CC BY-SA 2.0 The temple was built around the 1st century CE in honour of Augustus, who was venerated as a god. It is often called the Temple of Diana, but that name comes from a legend created in the 17th century, not from archaeology, and the city's own leaflet says it was dedicated to the imperial cult and not to the goddess. In the Middle Ages it was built into the castle, and it served as a butcher's shop from the 14th century until 1836.
Photo: Kent Wang — CC BY 4.0 The first church on this spot dates from 1186 to 1204 and was very modest. It was enlarged in the early Gothic style between about 1280 and 1340, and the huge apostle statues on the main portal were carved in the 1330s. Two massive towers flank the front, each with a different conical spire, one of them covered in coloured tiles.
Photo: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL — CC BY-SA 2.0 Look up at the window of this small house from the early 1500s. It is cut from granite in a double arch with a slim marble column as its mullion, and it bends in four faces to follow the curve of the street corner. Tradition says the Évora chronicler and poet Garcia de Resende lived here, and the house is attributed to the architect Diogo de Arruda. It has been a National Monument since 1910.
Photo: Elisa.rolle — CC BY-SA 4.0 Cardinal Henry, Archbishop of Évora, ordered this marble fountain built in 1556, and the architect was Diogo de Torralva. The city's leaflet says local residents contributed to it, because this is one of the main squares in town.
Photo: Nmmacedo — CC BY-SA 3.0
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