Igreja de São Roque

The Igreja de São Roque (St. Roch's Church ) is a Jesuit church in Lisbon's Bairro Alto district, which is one of the most magnificent churches in the Iberian Peninsula. Since it was not destroyed in the devastating earthquake of 1755, and due to their unique chapel of São João Baptista it is one of the most magnificent churches in the world. Patron saint of the church is the St. Roch of Montpellier.

History

In the beginning, only a small chapel stood on the of the present church, which stood at its foundation stone was laid before the walls of the city of Lisbon lot. She was already the St. Roch consecrated and contained relics of this saint of Venice. King John ( João ) III. handed over to the Jesuits the land, the construction of the church gave in 1566 in order and so commissioned the Italian architect and architect Filippo Terzi. He directed the construction in cooperation with the two Portuguese architect Affonso and Bartholomew Alvares. In 1596 the church was completed. The severe earthquake of Lisbon, which destroyed almost the whole city, situated just on the outer facade to light damage.

Architecture

St. Roch is a single-nave hall church in Renaissance style. Heard it has a museum to the church building itself. The facade is very simple, which can be due to the austerity measures in the wake of the Counter-Reformation explain.

The chapel of São João Baptista

Most important in the interior of the church is the fourth chapel of São João Baptista ( St. John the Baptist ), which is one of the most magnificent Catholic chapels in the world. It was in 1742 given by King John V. as a votive offering in Rome commissioned, consecrated in 1744 by Pope Benedict XIV necessary, disassembled and 1749 brought with 3 ships to Lisbon, where it was reassembled. Precious materials have been used, for the ground noblest marble, other materials were alabaster, lapis lazuli, ivory, jade, amethyst. On the construction of the chapel a total of around 100 Italian artists were involved. It was created on the basis of designs by the famous Luigi Vanvitelli. The most famous was the artist Nicola Salvi, who had designed in Rome the famous Trevi Fountain. The marble floor is a drawn armillary sphere, the symbol of power King Manuel I and at the same coat of arms of Portugal admitted. The king funded this two million Cruzados expensive work with the gold from Brazil.

Interiors and attached museum

The rest of the interior is remarkable: the coffered ceiling and the associated ceiling painting - trompe l'oeil - were completed in 1588. The wood had to be procured from Germany at that time, because you could obtain anywhere on the Iberian peninsula timbers of this size. The azulejos, which originate from Francisco de Matos, were mounted in 1584 and painted. Also in the church are important tombs to find, so Dom Tomas de Almeida, the first patriarch of Lisbon, or Simão Rodrigues, 1540 introduced the Jesuits in Portugal. Many candle holders in the various chapels date from well-known artists, for example by Simon Miglie or Pietro Werschaffelt. As is common in Portugal, can be found in the church gilded carvings everywhere ( called Talha Dourada ).

The signal at the church building museum was formerly the poor and the Foundling Hospital Casa da Misericordia, the Museo de Arte Sacra de São Roque ( Museum of Sacred Art). It also, there are magnificent works of art: paintings of the Portuguese school, including a Gregorio Lopes attributed Portrait of church founder Dom João III. of Portugal and his wife Catherine; a painting that I with his wife Dona Eleanor depicting the wedding of King Emmanuel, also paintings by Baltasar Coelho da Silveira, Gaspar Dias Vieira Lusitano. Furthermore, much of the furniture, censers, reliquaries, crucifixes and other sacred objects in the museum. A torchbearer of the famous Italian artist Giuseppe Gagliardi be admired there.

Importance

The importance of the church is mainly due to the Chapel of São João Baptista. The chapel next to the monastery of Mafra Palace and the University Library of Coimbra is one of the examples of the splendor sense of the absolutist King João V, who invested his entire fortune in his religious mania for the Church and in superb works. The German writer Esther Bernard was probably the first German in 1802, which described the church. The church is also a relic of the Portuguese Renaissance, which has survived the vicissitudes of the centuries and today is a mosaic of the former splendor of the merchant and seafaring town Lisbon before the earthquake.

Swell

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