The Convent of Christ is one of Portugal's great architectural achievements and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. What began as a twelfth-century Templar fortification became an immense layered complex covering centuries of European architectural styles — Romanesque, Gothic, Manueline, Renaissance, and Mannerist elements accumulated as successive Grand Masters and Portuguese monarchs added their contributions. The hill above Tomar is now barely visible beneath its walls.
The entrance through the castle gates leads first to the Templar fortress itself, then into a series of cloisters — seven in total — each commissioned in a different era and therefore a small lesson in architectural history. The most beautiful is the Cloister of João III, a restrained Renaissance quadrangle built in the sixteenth century. But the most famous feature of the entire complex is a single window: the Chapter House window, a riot of Manueline carving in which ropes, coral, roots, armillary spheres, and the Cross of the Order of Christ all tangle together. It is the most reproduced piece of Portuguese ornament, and it is even more impressive in person than in photographs.
The Charola at the heart of the complex — that sixteen-sided Templar chapel — remains genuinely moving, its vaulted interior painted with sixteenth-century panels and the light falling through narrow windows onto a space designed for the devotions of soldiers who believed they were fighting for the world's salvation. Allow at least two hours for the full visit.