Eerie bone walls - a poem about the need to reflect on one's existence hangs in an old wooden frame on one of the pillars.
Where are you going in such a hurry, traveler?
Pause...do not advance your travel.
You have no greater concern,
Than this one: that on which you focus your sight.
Recall how many have passed from this world,
Reflect on your similar end.
There is good reason to do so;
If only all did the same.
Ponder, you so influenced by fate,
Among the many concerns of the world,
So little do you reflect on death.
If by chance you glance at this place,
Stop ... for the sake of your journey,
The longer you pause, the further on your journey you will be.
—Padre António da Ascenção —Padre António da Ascenção, translated by Carlos A. Martins
Following its heyday as a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction of Lisbon in a 1755 earthquake, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the independence in 1822 of Brazil a... ... read more 
