Hidden treasure - Igreja de São Cristóvão, Lisbon

I went to see the interior of this church twice. In one day.
I was so impressed by the not very special looking church from the outside that I forgot I had my phone with me, which normally takes better photos in dark places, and started to shoot with a camera.

Later on, I just had to go back and take a few more with a phone :) Just in case the camera ones sucked big time.

Igreja de São Cristóvão, Lisbon

The original church was built in the 1st quarter of the 13th century and is named Santa Maria de Alcamim.
In **1610 **it was restored and in 1671-72 the works were completed. Between 1699 and 1703, the interior, covered in gilded woodwork, highlights the 36 paintings by Bento Coelho da Silveira (1617-1708). In 1701, the brutesque ceiling was also painted by Estêvão Amaro Pinheiro, Miguel dos Santos and Lourenço Nunes Varela.
The 1755 Earthquake caused little damage, only to the towers, maintaining the Mannerist façade of the church, characteristic of the 17th century.
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The main altar (there are a total of 8 of them) has a painting of the Blessed Sacrament. All surrounded by more ornaments and larger panting on the sides. This is the one on the left:

Shiny gold frames and ornaments against dark, grey stone. So beautiful!
Please notice how the frames go around the arches. Its like they really wanted to fill up every little gap on the wall.





After taking all the photos and walking around a bit, I left. But I knew that this place deserved a bit more attention, and I was so impressed by its richness that I just wanted a bit more of it.

This is where I came back with a phone a few hours later. As much as the sides were lit up, the ceiling, which is equally stunning, was not. And I would not want to miss that bit.





You can see it from a much wider angle too, which is nice. And yea - there was nobody inside. So many tourists outside, but this place was empty. Not complaining - I prefer it that way. Just a bit strange.

That's the ceiling. Wooden boards filled with paintings.





You can see some damage in few places, but the it is in good condition in general.

Here is what it looks like from the outside. Image from Google, because I have this terrible habit of forgetting to take the photo of it myself. Besides, the street is so narrow that even Google Street View didn't catch it all :p



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It is right here if you would like to visit, or have been there and missed it too :p



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