Tomb of the Unknown Soliders at the Monastery of Batalha
It was time for me to explore the rest of the monastery of Batalha. I came across this large room called the Sala do Capitulo or the Chapterhouse. Apart from the size of the room, one of the first things one would notice about this room was the presence of soldiers. It seems like they are here to guard the the tomb of two unknown soliders killed in World War I. The killed soldiers weren’t killed near Batalha but rather in Flanders and the other one in Africa. Their bodies were brought here for burial and two soldiers remain on guard. There is a cross which marks the tombs. I can’t help but be wary since there were soldiers around.
Sala do Capitulo in the Monastery of Batalha
Another feature which would strike people here was the ceiling. There is a prominent star shaped vaulted ceiling in the room. What is interesting here was that the room was so large that it was assumed that there should have been a central support to keep the thing from collapsing. It actually did twice but they finally succeeded in constructing the pillar free room. Visitors can then have a good view of the design of the room. Amusingly, the architect of the room slept under the design to disprove his critics who said his design won’t be possible to build.
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