Capellas Imperfeitas

Capellas Imperfeitas - Unfinished Chapels "It was not till the reign of Emmanuel the Fortunate (1495-1521) that the completion of the Capellas Imperfeitas was determined on - it is said at the instigation of Queen Leonora. The work, however, progressed but slowly, as the king soon transferred his interest to the new convent of Belem and selected its church as his mausoleum. Matthew Fernandes the Elder (from 1480; d. 1515) and M. Fernandes the Younger (d. 1528) are named as the master builders. To the design of the former are probably due the vestibule of the new mausoleum, with its celebrated portal, and the massive piers of the upper octagon. ... The CapelIas Imperfeitas (entr. on the E. side of the convent) adjoin the E. end of the church but have no organic connection with it. According to the original design, which would probably have exhibited the 'Manuelino' style in its most brilliant development the central octagon, with a diameter of about 65 ft., was surrounded by seven large chapels, each 28 ft. deep and having a triapsidal termination and three tall windows. The intervening spaces were occupied by six lower pentagonal chapels. The star-vaulting of the upper octagon was probably meant to be surmounted by a flat roof of stone".--Baedeker 1913 IMG_7990