Founded in 1131 outside the protecting
walls of Coimbra. It was the most
important monastic house of Portuguese
monarchy. Its school was essential in
Middle Ages and also a meeting point for the
intellectual and powerful elites.
Its scriptorium was responsible for the propaganda machine of King Afonso Henriques, being not strange at
all his decision to be buried exactly in Santa Cruz of Coimbra.
The single nave leads to the main chapel containing the tombs of the first two kings of Portugal, Afonso
Henriques and Sancho I.
Downtown Square