Santa Maria de Salzedas Monastery

With its foundation closely linked to Teresa Afonso, wife of Egas Moniz, the Santa Maria de Salzedas Monastery began to be built in 1168.

Extensively extended in the 17th and 18th centuries, with a new monumental cloister in the 18th century designed by the Maltese architect Carlos Gimac, this male Cistercian monastery boasts works by some of the greatest names in Portuguese painting, such as Vasco Fernandes (Grão Vasco), Bento Coelho da Silveira and Pascoal Parente.

With the extinction of the Religious Orders in Portugal in 1834, the monastery saw its church converted into a parish church and part of the monastic facilities sold to private individuals. Classified as a National Monument in 1997, in 2002, under a protocol with the Diocese of Lamego, the Portuguese State began the progressive renovation of the buildings and facilities.

Its integration, in 2009, in the Vale do Varosa Project, made the opening of the space and its Museological centre to the public possible in October 2011, where you can follow the memory of the monastic complex with the exhibition “Fragmentos. Expressões da Arte Religiosa do Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Salzedas” (Fragments. Religious Art from the Santa Maria de Salzedas Monastery).

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