The Cathedral of Guarda ( pt, Catedral da Guarda, Sé da Guarda) is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

church located in the northeastern city of Guarda,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

. Its construction took from 1390 until the mid 16th century, combining

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and

Manueline The Manueline ( pt, estilo manuelino, ), occasionally known as Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese architectural style originating in the 16th century, during the Portuguese Renaissance and Age of Discoveries. Manu ...

architectural styles.

History

The History of Guarda Cathedral begins in 1199, when King Sancho I obtained permission from the Pope to transfer the seat of the bishopric from nearby ''Egitania'' (

Idanha-a-Velha Idanha-a-Velha (Idanha "the old") is a village in the civil parish (''freguesia'') of Monsanto e Idanha-a-Velha, in the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova (Idanha "the new"), central eastern Portugal, and the site of ancient Egitânia, a former bishopr ...

) to Guarda. The first cathedral building, in Romanesque style, was soon substituted by another church built in the site occupied today by the Misericórdia Church in Guarda. This second cathedral, of modest proportions and built in the 13th century, was demolished in the second half of the 14th century when the city walls of Guarda were reinforced by King Ferdinand I during the wars with Castile. The third and definitive Guarda Cathedral started being built in 1390 under bishop Vasco de Lamego, during the reign of King John I. In the early 15th century the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

was built and the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-typ ...

was begun in

style. In this first stage the works were influenced by the

Monastery of Batalha The Monastery of Batalha ( pt, Mosteiro da Batalha) is a Dominican convent in the municipality of Batalha, in the district of Leiria, in the Centro Region of Portugal. Originally, and officially, known as the ''Monastery of Saint Mary of the V ...

, which was being built at the same time. Construction on the Cathedral proceeded slowly during the second half of the century. In the period from 1504 to 1517, under bishop Pedro Gavião, the pace of the works increased and the cathedral was almost completed. The architects of this phase were 'Pedro and Felipe Henriques. The

style - a Portuguese mix of Gothic and early

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

- was the dominant influence in this second building stage, as attested by the decoration of the windows of the

and

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building with ...

, the decorated

rib vault A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic a ...

ing of the transept, some spiralling columns of the nave as well as the main portal, similar to the Manueline portal of Saint Michael's Chapel of Coimbra University. Most building activity in Guarda Cathedral was finished around 1540. Around this time, the Renaissance-style ''Pina Chapel'' was built as burial site for João de Pina, treasurer of the cathedral. It has a Renaissance portal and a tomb with the recumbent figure of the sponsor of the chapel. Another important addition was the altarpiece of the main chapel, installed in the 1550s. This important Renaissance work was carved in stone by

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

sculptor João de Ruão, one of the main sculptors from

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...

. During the following centuries the cathedral was enriched with other elements. Despite the artistic value of some of these additions - like the Baroque organ - all were removed during a renovation carried out in 1898 by architect Rosendo Carvalheira, which aimed at restoring the cathedral to its primitive, Gothic/Manueline appearance.

Burials

*Pedro Vaz Gaviao, Archbishop (1496–1516) *Joao De Pina, Treasurer of the Cathedral

References

General Bureau for National Buildings and Monuments (Portugal)
{{coord, 40, 32, 18.01, N, 7, 16, 09.45, W, source:ptwiki_region:PT_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Guarda, Portugal Guarda Gothic architecture in Portugal National monuments in Guarda District Buildings and structures in Guarda District