The Templar castle and the Convent of the Order of Christ – whose construction took place between the 12th and 17th centuries, includes some of the most expressive testimonies of the history of Portuguese architecture, such as the Romanesque Charola of the church, the cloister of D. João III and the famous Manueline window of the Chapter Room.
Memorial monument of the Battle of Aljubarrota and royal pantheon, whose construction began in the late 14th century with the patronage of D. João I, the Dominican Monastery of Batalha is the most significant Portuguese Gothic building.
The Monastery or Royal Abbey of Santa Maria, founded by the Cistercian Order in 1153. Its construction began in 1178 on land donated by Dom Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal, to the Cistercian Order, in fulfillment of a promise made after the Christian reconquest of Santarém.
The medieval dependencies still preserved make the Monastery of Alcobaça a unique set in the world, to which the later buildings, from the 16th to the 18th centuries, are added, as an important testimony to the evolution of Portuguese architecture.
As the name of the program suggests, all the monuments are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
