The Capuchos Convent is a small Franciscan convent in the Sintra hills, founded in 1560 by Álvaro de Castro, councillor of state to King Sebastião. The friars lined doors, ceilings and walls with cork, which gave the building its other name, the Convent of Cork. It is part of the Cultural Landscape of Sintra.
Its official name is the Convent of the Holy Cross of the Sintra Hills. The buildings sit among granite boulders in the forest, west of the town of Sintra.
What to see at the Capuchos Convent
- Entrance portico: a simple gateway with a wooden ceiling and beams lined with cork.
- Cells: small rooms with low doors, built into the rock and lined with cork, where the friars slept.
- Chapel, refectory and kitchen: the shared rooms of the community, kept at the same small scale as the cells.
- Paths and boulders: the buildings follow the shape of the granite rocks and the forest around them.
History of the Capuchos Convent
- 1560: Álvaro de Castro founds the convent to fulfil a vow of his father, João de Castro, the fourth Viceroy of India. Eight Franciscan friars come from the Arrábida province to live there.
- 1834: Portugal dissolves its religious orders and the friars leave the convent.
- 1949: the Portuguese State buys the convent, which is already in poor condition.
- 1995: UNESCO inscribes the Cultural Landscape of Sintra on the World Heritage List.
- 2000: Parques de Sintra takes over the management of the convent and the land around it.
Visiting the Capuchos Convent
- Management: Parques de Sintra manages the convent. Its website publishes current opening times and prices.
- Location: the convent is in the forest of the Sintra hills, about 9 kilometres from the centre of Sintra by road and about 2 kilometres south-west of Monserrate Palace.
Other places in the Cultural Landscape of Sintra