Low Choir (also called the Chapter House)

Everything points to the fact that this choir originally occupied a part of the primitive church, probably the main chapel which was transformed into the Chapter House in the works campaign of D. João III (r. 1521-1557). The Low Choir eventually acquired a funerary function, for it was here that the bodies of the nuns were placed for the vigil before they were buried in the cloister. Echoes of this use are the two retables in giltwood carving which were begun in the reign of D. João V (r. 1706-1750) and concluded in the reign of D. José I (r. 1750-1777). These hang opposite each other on the side walls, and are dedicated to Our Lady of Good Death and the Crucified One. So one notes a dynamic rhythm in the organisation of all the elements, first in descending (Calvary – Dead Christ) and then in ascending (Dormition – Assumption of the Virgin) order, at the centre the body of the nun would have a participatory role, representing the redemption of sins through the death of Christ and salvation through the intercession of Mary, Mother of God. The back altar and the wall paintings, which date from the 17th and 18th centuries, were not originally here, but were adapted to the existing frames in the second phase of the works, after 1896. Note the azulejos in the Madre de Deus Low Choir, which appear as an important testimony to the documentary concerns of Liberato Teles (b. 1843 - d. 1902) who was responsible for the works campaign of this monument following those begun by José Maria Nepomuceno (b. 1836 - d. 1895), circa 1872. That is how we know, through him, that the azulejos placed in the Low Choir came from the other spaces of the old convent. Circa 1872, during the works under José Maria Nepomuceno, this space and the church nave were linked by an imposing span and staircase, thus altering the original meaning of enclosure.