Monuments

Founded in the mid-16th century, this convent's estate was regularly enriched through the dowries that it received from its novices, originating from the region's noble families and coming here to take up religious orders. In 1706, due to years of abuse and the disorder in which the community then lived, a reform was imposed on the convent by the Bishop of Lamego. In 1812, the convent was closed and its income joined to that of the Mosteiro das Chagas, in Lamego, to where the nuns were also moved. Part of the sumptuous carved and gilded woodwork that once adorned the Mosteiro das Chagas can now be seen at the Lamego Museum.

The church underwent profound changes in the 17th and 18th centuries, resulting in a combination of Mannerist and Baroque features. Outside, attention is drawn to the doorway of the side façade, flanked by two pairs of columns with Ionic capitals and a small terrace supported by seven Tuscan columns, from where the nuns undoubtedly looked out on the world outside.

Inside, the walls are lined with some most impressive 17th-century polychrome azulejos. Equally eye-catching are the elegant triumphal arch and some carved and gilded wooden altarpieces in the baroque rococo style. On the back wall are the wide openings of the upper and lower choirs, closed with an iron grille. The statue standing sideways on the high altar is a representation of St. Bernard.

Still to be found in the chancel is the tombstone of the convent's founder, Dr. Fernão Mergulhão, who obtained the agreement of the Bishop of Lamego and the approval of the Pope to set up a convent here in 1594, endowing it with liturgical vestments and sizeable estates. The jasper tombstone bears his coat of arms and an inscription alluding to the convent's foundation.