Tomar: from the Templar church to the Convent of Christ: a self-guided walk

By Alleytale

The town the Templars chose, on the river Nabão

Tomar was the Templars' seat and later the seat of the Order of Christ, and the walk crosses the river and the old town toward the hill where both orders lived.

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The stops

1. 1Igreja de Santa Maria dos Olivais

   This church dates from the second half of the 12th century and was used as a burial place for the Knights Templar of Tomar. Gualdim Pais, the Templar master who founded Tomar, is buried here, and his original tomb slab, dated 1195, is still inside. The building you see mostly comes from a 13th-century reconstruction in the early Gothic style, with a rose window on the façade and a free-standing bell tower beside it.

   

2. 2Ponte Velha de Tomar

   Known locally as the Ponte Velha, this bridge over the Nabão is also called the bridge of Manuel I. It has come through several centuries and many alterations, especially in the 16th century, and it still keeps a Roman architectural line.

   

3. 3Parque do Mouchão

   In the time of Prince Henry the banks of the Nabão were regularized, which widened the old part of the town, and of the islets that once stood here only the Mouchão survives. Its wooden waterwheel, with pairs of clay buckets, once supplied water to the mills, presses and fields along the river, and the people of Tomar are fond of it today.

   

4. 4Igreja de São João Baptista

   The church stands on Tomar's main square, facing the 17th-century town hall, with a statue of Gualdim Pais, the Templar master who founded the town, in the middle. Its façade has a flamboyant Gothic portal and its tower carries a 16th-century clock. Inside are panels painted in the 1530s by the Renaissance artist Gregório Lopes.

   

5. 5Sinagoga de Tomar

   This synagogue was completed in the Gothic style around 1460, and it is one of two medieval synagogues preserved in Portugal. It was used as a synagogue until 1496, when Jews were expelled from Portugal, and it later served as a prison, a Catholic chapel, a hay barn and a warehouse. Since 1939 it has housed the Abraham Zacuto Portuguese Jewish Museum.

   

6. 6Convento de Cristo

   On the hill above the town stands the Templar castle, built around 1160, which later became part of the Convent of Christ. Inside, the Templars built the round Charola church in the second half of the 12th century, modelled on the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. The convent has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983.

   

Hear the full story as you walk, or create your own walk, in the Alleytale app.