Inside the Central Octagon of the Round Church of Convento de Cristo
I was very impressed with the round church of Convento de Cristo. I was sort of getting bored with yet another monastery, but I think this was one of the best so far. No wonder it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Thankfully, this would be the last monastery I would be visiting in the new few days so I can rest for a while. The inside of the round church is richly decorated with gothic and Manueline motifs. This is most especially seen in the central octagonal structure. It is not possible go inside the octagonal structure since it is blocked off. One could probably extend a selfie stick under the structure and take a photo of it from the inside.
Paintings on the Walls of the Convento de Cristo
From the outside it was a bit difficult for me to tell what was there. There were statues of saints inside the octagon. This includes some golden cage thing which I can’t really tell from the outside. Suffice to say that the gold really shines and that is probably the idea behind it. It would have been nice to see the inside of the octagon but this probably for the best. This is arguably the treasure of Convento de Cristo and I think it is too fragile to let visitors just roam through it whenever they want. Perhaps this is something for a tour group to see?
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