Praca do Comercio, Batalha Monastery, Sanctuary of Fatima Portugal

Lisbon Portugal
The Praça do Comércio(Portuguese pronunciation:[ˈpɾasɐ ðu kuˈmɛɾsju]; transl. Commerce Plaza) is a large, harbour-facing plaza in Portugal's capital, Lisbon, and is one of the largest in Portugal, with an area of 175 by 175 m (574 by 574 ft), that is, 30,600 m2 (329,000 ft2).
Facing the Tagus (Tejo) to the South, the plaza is still commonly known in Portuguese as Terreiro do Paço([tɨˈʁɐjɾu ðu ˈpasu] (transl. Palace Yard), as it hosted the Paço da Ribeira (transl. Royal Palace of Ribeira) until the latter was destroyed by the great 1755 Lisbon earthquake (the subway stationlocated there is still named after the old name of the plaza). After the earthquake, the plaza was completely remodeled as part of the rebuilding of the Pombaline Downtown (Baixa), ordered by Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, who was (chief) Minister of Portugal from 1750 to 1777, during the reign of the Portuguese King José I. From the 19th century onwards, Praça do Comércio became the seat of some of the most important Portuguese state departments, including the Ministries of Finances, Internal Administration, Agriculture and Maritime Affairs; before the Carnation Revolution (1974) and the creation of a unified Ministry of Defence, it was also the location of the War and Navy Ministries, as well as the old Ministry of Colonies (up to 1967), and thus also became a methonym for the Portuguese central government. Also housed there is the Supreme Court.
The Monastery of Batalha(Portuguese: Mosteiro da Batalha) is a Dominican convent in the municipality of Batalha, historical Beira Litoral province, in the Centro of Portugal. Originally, and officially, known as the Monastery of Saint Mary of the Victory (Portuguese: Mosteiro de Santa Maria da Vitória), it was erected in commemoration of the 1385 Battle of Aljubarrota and would serve as the burial church of the 15th-century Aviz dynasty of Portuguese royalty. It is one of the best and original examples of Late Flamboyant Gothic architecture in Portugal, intermingled with the Manueline style. The monastery is a historic and cultural monument and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983.
The monastery was built to thank the Virgin Mary for the Portuguesevictory over the Castilians in the Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385, fulfilling a promise of King John I of Portugal. The battle put an end to the 1383-85 Crisis.
It took over a century to build, starting in 1386 and ending circa 1517, spanning the reign of seven kings. It took the efforts of fifteen architects (Mestre das Obras da Batalha), although for seven of them the title was merely honorary. The construction required an enormous effort, using extraordinary resources of men and material. New techniques and artistic styles, hitherto unknown in Portugal, were deployed.
Work began in 1386 by the Portuguese architect Afonso Domingues, who continued until 1402. He drew up the plan, and many of the structures in the church and the cloister are his doing. His style was essentially RayonnantGothic; however, there are influences from the English Perpendicular Period. There are similarities with the façade of York Minster and with the nave and transept of Canterbury Cathedral.
He was succeeded by Huguet from 1402 to 1438. This architect, who was probably of Catalan descent, introduced the Flamboyant Gothic style. This is manifest in the main façade, the dome of the square chapter house, the Founder's Chapel, the basic structure of the Imperfect Chapels and the north and east naves of the main cloister. He raised the height of the nave to 32.46 m.
The Sanctuary of Fátima(Portuguese: Santuário de Fátima), officially titled Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima(Santuário de Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima), is a Marian shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima located in Fátima, in the municipality of Ourém, in Portugal. It consists of a group of Catholicreligious buildings and structures with the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary (Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Rosário) as the main building.
In addition to the basilica, the shrine contains the Chapel of the Lausperene (Capela do Lausperene), a great oak tree near where the 1917 Marian Apparitionsoccurred, a monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Monumento ao Sagrado Coração de Jesus) and the Chapel of the Apparitions(Capelinha das Aparições) which contains the area where three children, Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, said they were first visited by the Virgin Mary. In addition, several other structures and monuments were built in the intervening years to commemorate the events.
Across from the main sanctuary is the much larger Basilica of the Holy Trinity constructed after 1953, owing to the limited scale of the Sanctuary for large-scale pilgrimages and religious services.
Excerpts from Wikipedia
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