Around 6 kilometres from Braga, there is the Benedictine Monastery of Tibães. Built on the site of a former Roman villa called Tevilanis, it was founded by Saint Martin of Dume in the 6th century during the Sueve reign of Teodomiro. In 1078, the knight Paio Guterres da Silva decided to rebuild the monastery. Later on, in 1567, this became the Portuguese and Brazilian headquarters of the Order of Saint Benedict.
In the 17th century, the current building was completed. It was one of the most grandiose in the country (with four cloisters) and richly decorated according to the plans of Manuel Álvares. Among other points of interest, there is the gold-leafed carving, the retables and Baroque adornment of André Soares (1750), the Baroque organ (1786) and the examples of tiling. It was at that time a truly practical school in the decorative arts holding great influence over Portuguese artistic trends of the 17th and 18th centuries.
The monastery´s grandeur is set off by the surrounding grounds that include a 18th century chapel dedicated to Saint Benedict. |