Caminho da Order, in Braga
The Chapel of São Frutuoso is located on Caminho da Ordem, parish of Real, city of Braga, northern Portugal.
During the 17th century, it was incorporated into the Convent of São Francisco in Braga, whose church is currently the seat of the parish of São Jerónimo de Real.
This temple consists of a small chapel in pre-Romanesque style with a Suevo-Visigothic design, and inspired by Byzantine mausoleums.
Its interior is considered a unique example of the architecture of the high Galician Middle Ages.
During the 17th century, it was incorporated into the Convent of São Francisco in Braga, whose church is currently the seat of the parish of São Jerónimo de Real.
This temple consists of a small chapel in pre-Romanesque style with a Suevo-Visigothic design, and inspired by Byzantine mausoleums.
Its interior is considered a unique example of the architecture of the high Galician Middle Ages.
History
This Chapel was built on the initiative of São Frutuoso, bishop of Braga and Dume in the second half of the 7th century, and was designated as the Chapel of São Salvador de Montélios.
The toponymy "Montélios" has the meaning of "Monte Pequeno", and several donations from the 9th and 10th centuries refer to this mountain, evident in the book "Fidei" and in the Inquirições de Dinis de Portugal the place is referred to as "Montêlhos".
The small chapel of Montélios owes its existence to Saint Frutuoso, bishop of Dume and Braga during the Visigothic era, who chose to be buried here in the 60s of the 7th century.
Around it there was a much larger monastic complex, a religious center of the region during this period, but it succumbed, most likely at the beginning of the 16th century, when the Franciscans began rebuilding the Monastery.
The chapel with a centralized plan, with four equal apses articulated around a quadrangular cross, is the only element of the entire monastic complex, dating from the High Middle Ages, that has survived to this day.
It constitutes a unique testimony in the national territory, with no apparent similarities with other nearby medieval works, a fact that has led to antagonistic interpretations and dates for the monument.
In fact, if for some time it was thought to be in front of the chapel-mausoleum of São Frutuoso, today the arguments are stronger that point to a chronology around the beginning of the 10th century, when the bishop's cult was renewed, as part of the repopulation of Afonso III.
The primitive building, from the Visigothic period, followed an orientalizing model (Ravenaic-Byzantine) in force in the capital of the kingdom, Toledo, with a Greek cross plan, an exterior decorated with blind arches, alternately round and mitered, a quadrangular tower over the transept, and with a hipped roof.
In the 10th century, once the region was reconquered and repopulation began, the chapel underwent reconstruction, which gave it the interior appearance it has today.
The apses, which had a quadrangular internal plan, now have a semicircular shape, and at the entrance to each one a triple arcade with a horseshoe arch was built, a true eikonostasis that compartmentalizes the space in accordance with the Hispanic liturgy in force at the time.
In this sense, if the similarities with the temple of Gala Placídia in Ravenna are still decisive, the identification of an ajimez and the evidence that the Cruzeiro tower had a frieze of blind arches are data that prove the contemporaneity of a significant part of Hispanic architecture from the 10th century.
The very classicism of the construction visible in the temple's constructive and decorative features points to an artistic current whose greatest manifestations date back to the first half of the 10th century, and whose implementation was particularly important in the western part of the peninsula.
In the first phase, and under the command of João de Moura Coutinho, the monument was intervened using the late-antique buildings of Ravenna as a model.
Despite subsequent attempts, the restoration was never completed and the work remained unfinished in terms of the roofs and some of the wall fillings, an event that is still clearly visible today to anyone who visits the chapel.
In its smallness, Montélios is one of the most fascinating high-medieval monuments on the peninsula, simultaneously related to Mediterranean works from the 5th-6th and 9th-11th centuries.
This temple will remain an essential work in studies dedicated to the Western High Middle Ages.
The toponymy "Montélios" has the meaning of "Monte Pequeno", and several donations from the 9th and 10th centuries refer to this mountain, evident in the book "Fidei" and in the Inquirições de Dinis de Portugal the place is referred to as "Montêlhos".
The small chapel of Montélios owes its existence to Saint Frutuoso, bishop of Dume and Braga during the Visigothic era, who chose to be buried here in the 60s of the 7th century.
Around it there was a much larger monastic complex, a religious center of the region during this period, but it succumbed, most likely at the beginning of the 16th century, when the Franciscans began rebuilding the Monastery.
The chapel with a centralized plan, with four equal apses articulated around a quadrangular cross, is the only element of the entire monastic complex, dating from the High Middle Ages, that has survived to this day.
It constitutes a unique testimony in the national territory, with no apparent similarities with other nearby medieval works, a fact that has led to antagonistic interpretations and dates for the monument.
In fact, if for some time it was thought to be in front of the chapel-mausoleum of São Frutuoso, today the arguments are stronger that point to a chronology around the beginning of the 10th century, when the bishop's cult was renewed, as part of the repopulation of Afonso III.
The primitive building, from the Visigothic period, followed an orientalizing model (Ravenaic-Byzantine) in force in the capital of the kingdom, Toledo, with a Greek cross plan, an exterior decorated with blind arches, alternately round and mitered, a quadrangular tower over the transept, and with a hipped roof.
In the 10th century, once the region was reconquered and repopulation began, the chapel underwent reconstruction, which gave it the interior appearance it has today.
The apses, which had a quadrangular internal plan, now have a semicircular shape, and at the entrance to each one a triple arcade with a horseshoe arch was built, a true eikonostasis that compartmentalizes the space in accordance with the Hispanic liturgy in force at the time.
In this sense, if the similarities with the temple of Gala Placídia in Ravenna are still decisive, the identification of an ajimez and the evidence that the Cruzeiro tower had a frieze of blind arches are data that prove the contemporaneity of a significant part of Hispanic architecture from the 10th century.
The very classicism of the construction visible in the temple's constructive and decorative features points to an artistic current whose greatest manifestations date back to the first half of the 10th century, and whose implementation was particularly important in the western part of the peninsula.
In the first phase, and under the command of João de Moura Coutinho, the monument was intervened using the late-antique buildings of Ravenna as a model.
Despite subsequent attempts, the restoration was never completed and the work remained unfinished in terms of the roofs and some of the wall fillings, an event that is still clearly visible today to anyone who visits the chapel.
In its smallness, Montélios is one of the most fascinating high-medieval monuments on the peninsula, simultaneously related to Mediterranean works from the 5th-6th and 9th-11th centuries.
This temple will remain an essential work in studies dedicated to the Western High Middle Ages.
Construction
In 560, according to tradition, there was a Roman villa in that place and probably a temple dedicated to the God Aesculapius, and in 656 Saint Fructuosus, Bishop of Bracara founded the Monastery of Saint Salvador in that place, ordering the construction of the chapel for his tomb.
São Frutuoso de Braga or “Frutuoso de Dume” was born in the 7th century in Astorga, Visigothic Kingdom, and was a monk and bishop of the 7th century and venerated as a saint where he died on April 16, 665 in Braga
The story of his life from São Frutuoso de Braga comes to us through São Valério, one of his disciples who was a copyist and writer monk, and who wrote his biography shortly after his death.
In the work Vita Sancti Fructuosi, aspects of the biographer's monastic life stand out almost exclusively, omitting his role as bishop and his intervention in the civil and religious life of the Visigothic Kingdom, which would have had great importance among the Hispanic Goths.
The archbishop of Compostela Diego Gelmírez in the year 1102 was responsible for the theft of the body as a relic, from Dume, in Braga, to Santiago, where he was solemnly buried in the crypt of the cathedral.
The cathedral of Compostela celebrates the liturgical solemnity of this translation, an act that came to be known as "Pio robbery" on December 16th.
Currently, the relics can be venerated in their original location, having only been returned by Santiago de Compostela in 1966, that is, 864 years later.
Currently, São Frutuoso de Braga or Frutuoso de Dume is venerated in the Chapel of São Frutuoso as well as in the Cathedral.
São Frutuoso de Braga or “Frutuoso de Dume” was born in the 7th century in Astorga, Visigothic Kingdom, and was a monk and bishop of the 7th century and venerated as a saint where he died on April 16, 665 in Braga
The story of his life from São Frutuoso de Braga comes to us through São Valério, one of his disciples who was a copyist and writer monk, and who wrote his biography shortly after his death.
In the work Vita Sancti Fructuosi, aspects of the biographer's monastic life stand out almost exclusively, omitting his role as bishop and his intervention in the civil and religious life of the Visigothic Kingdom, which would have had great importance among the Hispanic Goths.
The archbishop of Compostela Diego Gelmírez in the year 1102 was responsible for the theft of the body as a relic, from Dume, in Braga, to Santiago, where he was solemnly buried in the crypt of the cathedral.
The cathedral of Compostela celebrates the liturgical solemnity of this translation, an act that came to be known as "Pio robbery" on December 16th.
Currently, the relics can be venerated in their original location, having only been returned by Santiago de Compostela in 1966, that is, 864 years later.
Currently, São Frutuoso de Braga or Frutuoso de Dume is venerated in the Chapel of São Frutuoso as well as in the Cathedral.
Renovations
In the 9th/10th century, the reconstruction and recovery of the chapel began, which would have been built between the years 656 and 665.
In the 12th century, the cult of Saint Frutuoso began, and in 1102 the Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, D. Diogo Gelmires, took the remains of Saint Frutuoso to Compostela. In 1523, Archbishop D. Diogo de Sousa founded a Franciscan convent of the Order of Capuchos da Piedade next to the Chapel of São Frutuoso, probably destroying the old Monastery of São Salvador.
In 1728, by order of Archbishop D. Rodrigo de Moura Teles, the reconstruction and remodeling of the church of the convent of São Francisco began, with the Chapel of São Frutuoso being integrated into the church, and having the main access through its interior, and the main facade, the internal canopies and respective columns were destroyed, and the East and North arms were modified.
In 1897, Architect Ernesto Korrodi planned to reestablish the original plan of the chapel and published a small note entitled "A Latin-Byzantine Monument in Portugal"
In 1931, restoration work began, led by João de Moura Coutinho and Sousa Lobo, guided by the thesis that the monument had been built by São Frutuoso for his burial in the 19th century. 6, modeled after the mausoleum of Gala Placidia of Ravenna
On September 28, 2015, the Braga City Council approved in a meeting the transfer of the convent and the attached chapel of São Frutuoso to the Archeology Unit of the University of Minho, which is in charge of recovering the property and creating a museum space open to the public, and the project was designed by the architect Maria Manuela Oliveira.
In the 12th century, the cult of Saint Frutuoso began, and in 1102 the Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, D. Diogo Gelmires, took the remains of Saint Frutuoso to Compostela. In 1523, Archbishop D. Diogo de Sousa founded a Franciscan convent of the Order of Capuchos da Piedade next to the Chapel of São Frutuoso, probably destroying the old Monastery of São Salvador.
In 1728, by order of Archbishop D. Rodrigo de Moura Teles, the reconstruction and remodeling of the church of the convent of São Francisco began, with the Chapel of São Frutuoso being integrated into the church, and having the main access through its interior, and the main facade, the internal canopies and respective columns were destroyed, and the East and North arms were modified.
In 1897, Architect Ernesto Korrodi planned to reestablish the original plan of the chapel and published a small note entitled "A Latin-Byzantine Monument in Portugal"
In 1931, restoration work began, led by João de Moura Coutinho and Sousa Lobo, guided by the thesis that the monument had been built by São Frutuoso for his burial in the 19th century. 6, modeled after the mausoleum of Gala Placidia of Ravenna
On September 28, 2015, the Braga City Council approved in a meeting the transfer of the convent and the attached chapel of São Frutuoso to the Archeology Unit of the University of Minho, which is in charge of recovering the property and creating a museum space open to the public, and the project was designed by the architect Maria Manuela Oliveira.
Facade
This Chapel has a plant centered on a Greek cross, externally straight, internally with semicircular arms to the North, South and East, and a West arm, and a quadrangular cross.
The volume of the dominant horizontal broken by the torriform elevation over the crossing, the gabled roof coverings on the arms and hipped roofs on the crossing.
The facades in opus quadratum granite stonework with a stepped base topped by a cornice under an eaves preceded by a limestone frieze decorated with strings, semicircles, six-point rosettes and liz flowers.
The façades of the arms are animated by blind arcades alternately in round arches and angular arches, and interrupted by a narrow limestone frieze with a rope.
The facades of the cruise tower are covered along the cornice with a Lombard arch, using alternately a double horseshoe arch and an angular arch, with each side presenting a small lighting window, with a double broken arch, with the south-facing window being mullioned.
The main facade is oriented, attached to the side facade of the church with access from the inside, through a large round arch, and closed by an iron grille with a staircase.
The tops of the arms are finished off with a triangular pediment featuring the one on the South arm, in the center, with a straight lintel door and those on the remaining arms, and a small horseshoe arched window.
On the North side, on the East arm, the arcosolium opens, where the remains of Saint Frutuoso would originally be located.
This building has a structure and floor in granite stonework, friezes and capitals in ançã stone, marble columns, door and roof structure in chestnut wood, dome in donkey brick and roof in straw tiles.
This temple is attached to the east side facade of the Church of the Convent of São Francisco, which is located on a higher plane than it is.
The main access is through the interior of the church and around it there is a small churchyard closed by a fenced wall, with access only through the church and the chapel.
To the east are the ruins of the old convent buildings, the Santo António Fountain and the old granite paved sidewalk.
The volume of the dominant horizontal broken by the torriform elevation over the crossing, the gabled roof coverings on the arms and hipped roofs on the crossing.
The facades in opus quadratum granite stonework with a stepped base topped by a cornice under an eaves preceded by a limestone frieze decorated with strings, semicircles, six-point rosettes and liz flowers.
The façades of the arms are animated by blind arcades alternately in round arches and angular arches, and interrupted by a narrow limestone frieze with a rope.
The facades of the cruise tower are covered along the cornice with a Lombard arch, using alternately a double horseshoe arch and an angular arch, with each side presenting a small lighting window, with a double broken arch, with the south-facing window being mullioned.
The main facade is oriented, attached to the side facade of the church with access from the inside, through a large round arch, and closed by an iron grille with a staircase.
The tops of the arms are finished off with a triangular pediment featuring the one on the South arm, in the center, with a straight lintel door and those on the remaining arms, and a small horseshoe arched window.
On the North side, on the East arm, the arcosolium opens, where the remains of Saint Frutuoso would originally be located.
This building has a structure and floor in granite stonework, friezes and capitals in ançã stone, marble columns, door and roof structure in chestnut wood, dome in donkey brick and roof in straw tiles.
This temple is attached to the east side facade of the Church of the Convent of São Francisco, which is located on a higher plane than it is.
The main access is through the interior of the church and around it there is a small churchyard closed by a fenced wall, with access only through the church and the chapel.
To the east are the ruins of the old convent buildings, the Santo António Fountain and the old granite paved sidewalk.
Interior
This Chapel has walls in carved stonework with the arms defined by round arches resting on wide pilasters covered above by a wide frieze with acanthus decoration, with triple horseshoe arcades, with the larger central arch resting on smooth-shaft columns with capitals with the same decoration as the frieze of the pilasters.
The arms are crossed in the middle of the wall by a narrow limestone frieze, covering the arms in wood, with the beam visible, the crossing by a semi-spherical dome plastered and painted white based on pendentives that join the corner corbels, and the pavement in granite slab with tombs with inscription and coat of arms.
The arms are crossed in the middle of the wall by a narrow limestone frieze, covering the arms in wood, with the beam visible, the crossing by a semi-spherical dome plastered and painted white based on pendentives that join the corner corbels, and the pavement in granite slab with tombs with inscription and coat of arms.
Classification
On March 27, 1944, this Chapel was classified as a National Monument.
