The Chapter Room

The carpentry, gilding, tiling, painting and the large table in the centre were all done between 1717 and 1719. The blue and white tiles depicting hunting scenes were made in Lisbon. The ceiling is made up of fifteen casements with canvases painted by the Italian João Baptista Pachini.

St Michael the Archangel, patron saint of the Portucalense Chapter, occupies the centre casement. The remaining fourteen paintings, allegorical and moral in nature, represent figures inspired by the emblem book of the Italian Cesare Ripa (1555-1622).

The Candelabra of Darkness was intended for the Office of Darkness and was used during Holy Week in the context of the Easter Triduum, which celebrates the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. The upper body, triangular, has fifteen nozzles for candle holders. The work was created by the carver Miguel Francisco da Silva, a renowned Porto artist of this chronology.