Convent of Christ, Tomar

The Convent of Christ at Tomar was originally a twelfth-century Templar stronghold. When the order was dissolved in the fourteenth century the Portuguese branch became the Knights of the Order of Christ, who went on to support Portugal’s maritime discoveries in the fifteenth. The castle and convent grew together across those centuries, which is why the architecture moves from Romanesque fortification to Manueline ornament within one building. The window of the chapter house is the piece everyone photographs; the round Templar church is the reason to stay longer.