Monastery of Jesus of Setúbal 2.67

The Monastery of Jesus is a historical religious building in Setúbal, Portugal, which served a monastery of Poor Clare nuns. It is one of the first buildings in the Manueline style, the Portuguese version of late Gothic. The cloisters of the complex houses a museum of the monastery .HistoryThe monastery was founded around 1490, outside the city walls of Setúbal, by Justa Rodrigues Pereira, a noblewoman of the Portuguese royal court. After 1491, King John II started sponsoring the building of the monastery, which he commissioned to Diogo de Boitaca (or Boytac), an architect of unknown origin, possibly French. After the death of John II in 1495, King Manuel I continued supporting the construction works.Most of the church was built between 1490 and 1495, and in 1496 the nuns of Order of Poor Clares were already living in the monastery. After 1495, under Manuel I, the nave of the church was covered with stone vaulting, replacing the wooden ceiling originally planned. It is believed that, in the 1510s, King Manuel I ordered the apse of the church to be rebuilt, although this is contested by some authors. Founder Justa Rodrigues Pereira and her family were buried in the crypt of the church, located in the main chapel.