Stairs leading to Bom Jesus do Monte Church

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Bom Jesus do Monte

Bom Jesus do Monte is a Portuguese sanctuary in a surroundings of a city of Braga, in northern Portugal. Its name equates to Good Jesus of a Mountain.
The Sanctuary is a notable e.g. of event site with a monumental, Baroque stairway that climbs 116 metres (381 feet). It is an important tourist attraction of Braga.

History
Many hilltops in Portugal as well as other parts of Europe have been sites of religious devotion given antiquity, as well as it is probable that a Bom Jesus mountain was one of these. However, a initial indication of a chapel over a mountain dates from 1373. This chapel - dedicated to a Holy Cross - was rebuilt in a 15th as well as 16th centuries. In 1629 a event church was built dedicated to a Bom Jesus (Good Jesus), with six chapels dedicated to a Passion of Christ.

The benefaction Sanctuary started being built in 1722, underneath a patronage of a Archbishop of Braga, Rodrigo de Moura Telles. His cloak of arms is seen over a gateway, in a commencement of a stairway. Under his direction a initial stairway row, with chapels dedicated to a Via Crucis, were completed. Each chapel is flashy with terra cotta sculptures depicting a Passion of Christ. He additionally sponsored a subsequent shred of stairways, that has a crooked shape as well as is dedicated to a Five Senses. Each sense (Sight, Smell, Hearing, Touch, Taste) is represented by a opposite fountain. At a end of this stairway, a Baroque church was built around 1725 by designer Manuel Pinto Vilalobos.

The functions on a initial chapels, stairways as well as church proceeded through a 18th century. In an area at a back of a church (the Terreiro dos Evangelistas), 3 octagonal chapels were built in a 1760s with statues depicting episodes that occur after a Crucifixion, like a assembly of Jesus with Mary Magdalene! . The ex traneous pattern of a beautiful chapels is attributed to eminent Braga designer Andr Soares. Around these chapels there have been 4 Baroque fountains with statues of a Evangelists, additionally dating from a 1760s.
Faade of a church of Bom Jesus

Around 1781, archbishop Gaspar de Bragana motionless to finish a garb by adding a third shred of stairways as well as a brand brand new church. The third stairway additionally follows a crooked pattern as well as is dedicated to a Three Theological Virtues: Faith, Hope as well as Charity, any with a fountain. The old church was demolished as well as a brand brand new one was built following a Neoclassic pattern by designer Carlos Amarante. This brand brand new church, began in 1784, had a interior flashy in a commencement of a 19th century as well as was consecrated in 1834. The main altarpiece is dedicated to a Crucifixion.

In a 19th century, a area around a church as well as stairway was expropriated as well as turned into a park. In 1882, to facilitate a entrance to a Sanctuary, a Bom Jesus funicular was built linking a city of Braga to a hill. This was a initial funicular to be built in a Iberian Peninsula as well as is still in use.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bom_Jesus_do_Monte