‏‏‎ Museu Nacional do Azulejo - Madre de Deus Convent

The National Azulejo Museum (MNAz), located on the east side of Lisbon, is housed in the former Convent of Madre de Deus, with a considerable part of the primitive structure still in place. The building complex consists of a church with a large chancel and a rectangular sacristy on the left, preceded by choirs. Backed against it on the right is a square bell-tower with the convent quarters on the opposite side, organised around a large cloister, a smaller cloister and two courtyards. Part of the remaining constructions corresponds to the monastery built in 1509 on the orders of the queen, D. Leonor (b. 1458 - d. 1525), wife to D. João II (r. 1481-1495) and sister of D. Manuel I (r. 1495-1521). The Convent of Madre de Deus was part of the Order of the Clarissas, or Secondary Order of Saint Francis, founded by Saint Clare of Assisi (b. 1193 - d. 1253), who shared with the Franciscans the same ideal of renouncing earthly goods. The construction we see today, however, is the fruit of various works campaigns, the first occurring in the 16th century, resulting in a complex architectural structure. The initiatives that took place during the reigns of D. Pedro II (r.1683-1706), D. João V (r. 1706-1750) and D. José (r. 1750-1777), were also important in renovating the space, in particular the new altar which was made after the 1755 earthquake. The works which occurred at the end of the 19th century, following the extinction of the religious orders in 1834, and later when the convent had come under public supervision in 1872, on the death of the last nun the previous year, make it hard to understand the architecture and articulation of the spaces in the primitive convent. The memory of Queen D. Leonor, founder of the Convent of Madre de Deus, is further associated with the first moment when this building was museumised, in 1957. The Museum was officially created in 1965, having the status of a National Museum since 1980.