Tourism

Sé de Lamego

In the 12th century, after the restoration of the diocese of Lamego, the construction of a larger temple began. Its location was established in the Rossio de Lamego, in the lower part of the future city, and construction began in the year 1159. Consecrated in 1175 to Santa Maria and S. Sebastião, the probable conclusion of the Cathedral would only happen in 1191. However, the various ages of History were responsible for significantly altering its original Romanesque profile. The Cathedral opens onto a wide paved churchyard, a work from the 18th century, with the facade marked by the robust tower remodeled in the 1700s. The main facade of the temple was rebuilt during the reign of D. Manuel I, combining the forms of flamboyant Gothic and the timid emergence of some forms of the Renaissance. Indeed, this renovation of the episcopal cathedral began in the 15th century and continued through the next. The facade’s construction campaign took place between 1508 and 1515, according to the plans of the architect João Lopes. On the ground floor, three pointed arch portals open, with the central one being larger, consisting of several archivolts resting on colonnettes, decorated with small sculptures of plant and zoomorphic motifs. Above these, Gothic windows open, with the central one of monumental dimensions and divided by curved stone frames. The three sections of the facade are divided by four buttresses and topped by pinnacles with crockets. Of the various dependencies that extend north of the main facade, the former Paço dos Bispos is notable, an 18th-century Baroque building that has been occupied since 1917 by the Lamego Museum, where some of the best works of art from the Cathedral and other religious houses in the city are kept. The interior of the cathedral is divided into three naves separated into three sections and covered by groin vaults, resting on round arches and thick pillars. The ceilings were painted in the first half of the 18th century by the Italian painter-architect Nicolau Nasoni, revealing perspectival compositions of triumphant Baroque, with an architectural theme framing biblical episodes. In the side naves, various and sumptuous Baroque altars open. Of large dimensions, the main chapel was remodeled in the 18th century, with an altarpiece from the late 1700s combining marble and gilded woodcarving, as well as a neoclassical choir stall with a high backrest. The windows, doors, arches, and its two organs are decorated by showy gilded woodcarving structures. The side chapels are modeled by superb Baroque altarpiece carvings, by João Garcia Lopes and made in 1751. The main altar of the Blessed Sacrament has a laborious silver frontal, the work of a goldsmith from Porto and dated to the third quarter of the 18th century. In the high choir, you can admire a beautiful choir stall with paintings, a graceful work of 18th-century Baroque. The illuminated sacristy contains a scenic Calvary with rocaille woodcarving, the work of a regional workshop and dated 1757. The balanced cathedral cloister is a 16th-century undertaking, divided into two floors, the first formed by round arches and the upper one consisting of a gallery of simple columns supporting a porch. On the lower floor of the cloister, there are two magnificent chapels. The one dedicated to Santo António is covered by a gilded and polychrome carved altar, housing sacred 17th-century images. The Chapel of São Nicolau, completed in 1563, has part of the walls lined with 18th-century tiles alluding to the life of the saint, which are the work of a workshop in the capital. It also has a harmonious and lively 18th-century carved altarpiece. In this 16th-century chapel, D. Manuel de Noronha, one of the most prominent bishops of the diocese of Lamego, is buried. Opening hours may vary according to the schedule of masses, celebrations, and other religious events.