Mastery and Museum of Sacred Art

The Portal of the Terreiro de Santa Mafalda has a special symbolism. Rebuilt in 2012, it features elements of 18th century rococo baroque and neoclassical architecture. Sculpted on it are the Cistercian and Portuguese arms, as well as the busts of the noblemen D. Ansur and D. Elva, who were patrons of this “house”.

The Terreiro do Mosteiro de Arouca is a kind of antechamber to the entrance to the monastery building, uniting several emblematic spaces. Passing through the portal, on the right is the old Priests’ House; at the bottom, a beautiful staircase that frames the granary building, where the landowners paid their taxes and the poorest collected their alms and some food; on the left, the main entrance to the monastery, punctuated by locutories, where the nuns received some visitors, the abbess’s quarters and two turrets limiting this wing, as if they were keepers’ towers.

After their death, the nuns were usually buried in the Cloister, where you can still find their numbered tombs. In the Chapter Room, the abbesses were buried. In this same room, the most important meetings of the religious community were held, trials were conducted in a kind of internal court, accounts were given and decisions were made for the future. Today, with an austere and penetrating silence, we can appreciate the beautiful 18th century tiles which, although of unknown origin, may be from the Coimbra School, with portraits of a landscape reminiscent of Flanders and the Netherlands.

It was here that the nuns created one of the monastery’s best-kept secrets: the recipes for convent sweets. But that’s not all. The size of the kitchen speaks volumes about the dynamics of the community, as we can see from the size of the fireplace, the oven, the central table (made from a single piece of granite) or the chest (made from a single chestnut tree trunk). This is where the ingredients were combined and seasoned, many of which came from the land rents that the monastery administered, and, of course, the eggs which, together with sugar and almonds, are the essential flavours that make Arouca’s monastic sweets a national reference and a true symbol of these lands. You’ll find these secrets in the form of real gastronomic temptations at the Doces Conventuais houses.

The Cadeiral is a space that breathes music, which floods the rosewood chairs, each with a sculpted frown, one of them wearing glasses, waiting to be discovered. Separated from the people by wooden railings, here the nuns attended mass, with their hymn books on these shelves, sitting or in mercy. In the shadow of the monumental organ, with the walls cut out by carving and painting, the Holy Queen continues to preside over the destinies of the Monastery, immortalized in the sculpture by Jacinto Vieira. The organ, built by Manuel Benito Gómez, an organ builder from Valladolid, was given a voice in 1743. It has 1352 pipes, regulated by 24 registers, and is considered by experts to be one of the most important instruments of the Iberian school of organbuilding in the world.