High Choir of the Mother of God Convent, National Tile Museum of Portugal

The High Choir, where the nuns of the old convent used to convene, was also known as the “Treasure Room”, given the number of relics stored in its giltwood display cases around the room. Carved in surprisingly meticulous woodwork and then gilded, this collection of relics has few parallels in Portugal.

For the most part the relics represent busts of some of the principal martyrs of the Catholic Church and there are few full body examples. What is particularly remarkable is the modelling of the faces and hands, treated with individualised features, regardless of the various eras when they were produced. The daylight illuminating the room comes in through windows that are encircled by blue on white azulejos, representing biblical heroines of the Old Testament and symbols of the Virgin.

This room is one of the most important spaces in the entire convent complex, marked also by the presence of the great choir stalls, the marquetry floor made of Brazilian woods, the imposing tabernacle with the arms of D. José I (r. 1750-1777) and the representation of God the Father surrounded by allegorical figures of the theological virtues – Faith, Hope and Charity. Furthermore, there are the paintings lining the upper part of the walls and ceiling, with episodes from the life of Our Lady and Jesus, as well as 16th century portraits of two of the convent’s greatest patrons: D. João III (r. 1521-1557) and his wife D. Catarina of Austria (b. 1507-d. 1578), attributed to Cristóvão Lopes (b. 1516 – d. 1594) and dated circa 1564.

Convent of the Mother of God
The Madre de Deus Convent, formerly owned by the Order of Santa Clara, is located in the eastern part of Lisbon, and now houses the National Tile Museum. Built in 1509 by Queen D. Leonor, wife of King D. João II, only about 1550 is built the present church of Mother of God, by order of King D. João III, and later decorated in the reigns of D. Pedro II, D. João V and D. José, between the late 17th and mid 18th centuries.

In this temple, the carving and the tiles are one of the best examples of Baroque in Portugal.

Today, the Madre de Deus church is an integral part of the National Tile Museum, an important memory keeper of Portuguese culture.

The museum houses in its domains an extensive collection that tells how the tile is made, its history, trends and other important aspects that involve this decorative and symbolic element.

In 1983 he was part of the XVII European Exhibition of Art Science and Culture.

The name of this convent was to search the Portuguese musical group Madredeus for his name.

Golden church
At the end of the seventeenth century, King D. Pedro II went back to the Poor Clares of the Madre de Deus Monastery and ordered him to repair almost all over again. To this end, he called João Rebello de Campos, Bishop D. Jerónimo Soares’s Miter Prosecutor and holder of a great genius for outlining plans for buildings, according to Diogo Barbosa de Machado.

This campaign was especially felt at the decorative level, as it dates from this time (c. 1670-1690) the execution of the paintings of the church ceilings, high choir and church body of the workshop of Marcos da Cruz and Bento Coelho da Silveira. The Dutch tile panels were laid in 1686 at the expense of Luís Correia da Paz, a deputy of the Brazilian Trade Junta court who, in return, was granted permission by the nuns to bury himself and his family members in a ram and grave in the convent church. In addition to the paintings and tiles, the church received gilded altars, as well as gilding in the frames of the paintings that decorated the church and the high choir.

In 1707, Friar Augustine of Santa Maria gave his testimony before the seventeenth-century Baroque works: the church has an open sky; not only for the spiritual consolation received by all their souls, but also in the ornaments, aceyo and wealth of it, which is all cooked in gold; and adorned with rich and excellent paintings.

The reign of King John V brought new decorative campaigns to the Monastery. Under the supervision of Father José Pacheco da Cunha a new sacristy was built (1746-1750), where the painter André Gonçalves, the master carver Félix Adauto da Cunha, the carpenter António da Silva, the Master Locksmith Manuel da Rocha and the farmers Luís João and Amaro Gonçalves. In parallel, the carving of the high choir and the church (arch of the cruise) also began to be renewed during these years. To this sexton is also due the decorative campaign of the House of the Ante-choir with paintings depicting the Life of St. Anthony attributed to the workshop of André Gonçalves.

The 1755 earthquake caused some ruin in the building, in particular the church with the collapse of half-choked walls, the destruction of the high altar, the fall of paintings from the church ceiling and the high choir.

King D. José funded the arrangement works that consisted of the execution of a new gallery, restoration and production of new paintings. This campaign again featured painter André Gonçalves and carver Félix Adauto, as well as gilders Vicente Ribeiro, José Joaquim and carpenter Mestre Bernardino. Early artists documented the painting of three new oil panels for the church and the execution of the gilded pulpit, respectively.

All this set produced in the faithful great emotion due to the total decoration of the spaces, characteristic of the Baroque, and the richness of the materials (blue of the tiles, the golden of the carving, the polychrome of the oil paintings) contributing to exemplify the concept of total art.

National Azulejo Museum
The National Tile Museum of Portugal, is an art museum in Lisbon, Portugal dedicated to the azulejo, traditional tilework of Portugal and the former Portuguese Empire, as well as of other Iberophone cultures. Housed in the former Madre de Deus Convent, the museum’s collection is one of the largest of ceramics in the world.

The Museu Nacional do Azulejo is housed in the former Convent of Madre de Deus founded in 1509 by Queen Leonor. Its collection presents the history of glazed tiles in Portugal, from the second half of the XV Century to the present day, proving that the tile remains a living and an identity expression of Portuguese culture.

Occupying various spaces in the building’s former convent wings, MNAz’s permanent exhibition documents the history of tile in Portugal from the 16th century to the present.

In close connection with the presented tile heritage, other ceramic objects belonging to the museum’s collections are integrated into the expository discourse.