Mosteiro de São Bento da Vitória
Mosteiro de São Bento da Vitória stands in Porto’s old centre, in the Vitória parish near Porta do Olival and Cordoaria. Granite walls, a large cloister, and a church with a substantial organ show the scale of this Benedictine foundation.
The congregation began construction in 1604 after royal authorization in 1598, following designs by Diogo Marques Lucas, a pupil of Filippo Terzi. Mannerist and Baroque elements meet inside, because the church’s decoration continued into the late eighteenth century. The main cloister received its foundation stone in 1608 and was completed in granite between 1725 and 1728. Over time, the complex became a military hospital in 1808, then a military court, prison, and barracks after 1835.
Restoration between 1985 and 1990 prepared the monastery for cultural use, including theatre and concerts under the Teatro Nacional São João. The main cloister now has a steel acoustic shell carried by four pillars and a wooden floor, turning monastic architecture into a performance space.
- City
- Porto
- Content updated
Take this page with you
The myTuur app is free, and once you are standing at a spot its story starts by itself.
Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Porto. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.
What is myTuur?
myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.