Chapel of Souls Curch

This church is noteworthy for its external Portuguese tile work called “azulejo” (from the Arabic word azzelij meaning “little polished stone”. The tilework dates back to the late 13th century when King Manuel I bought this from Seville in Spain to decorate the walls of his castle at Sintra. there is an entire museum dedicated to this beautiful decorating form and it is used extensively on both the inside and outside of buildings (we did not have time to visit). The most classical are the scenes of blue on white that we would soon see in the central rail station. Nancy found the inside of the chapel very pleasant. As this church is smaller and in active use it has been maintained well and does not have the “heavy feeling” of he churches that are large and feel very old inside.Read more