BELÉM, Santa Maria de. – A Portuguese monastery of the Hieronymites in Lisbon. It stands beside a great church and a famous cloister. As a whole, it is the most considerable monument in Lisbon. It was begun by King Manuel I on the site of a small chapel founded by Prince Henry the Navigator. Founded in 1502 according to a design by Boytac, who was succeeded in 1517 by João de Castillo, whose principal collaborator was the French sculptor Nicolas Charterene, and later by other architects and decorators, it is one of the most important monuments erected in the style known as the Manueline, which is a richly charming local variant of late Gothic. Construction was interrupted under John III in 1551 and poorly restored in the 19th century to repair the damage caused by the earthquake of 1755. From here Vasco de Gama and Álvaro Cabral set out.
BELÉM, SANTA MARIA DE
BIBL.: A. Aranho, *Bibl. des ouvrages portugais pour servir à l'étude des villes et monuments du Portugal*, Lisbon 1900; W. C. Watson, *Portuguese Architecture*, London 1908 (v. index).