Belem, Santa Maria de

BELÉM, SANTA MARIA de. - Portuguese monastery of the Hieronymites in Lisbona. Beside it stands a large church and a famous cloister. Taken together, it is the most notable monument in Lisbona. It was begun by King Manuel I on the site where there had been a small chapel founded by Prince Enrico il Navigatore. Founded in 1502 to the design of Boytac, who was succeeded in 1517 by João de Castillo, whose principal collaborator was the French sculptor Nicolas Charterene, followed by other architects and decorators, it is one of the most important monuments erected in the so-called Manueline style, a charming local variant of the late Gothic. Construction was interrupted under Giovanni III in 1551 and poorly restored in the 19th century to repair the damage caused by the earthquake of 1755. Vasco de Gama and Alvarés Cabral set out from there.