Igreja de São Francisco (Porto)

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Gothic apse of the Church of São Francisco.

The Igreja de São Francisco (Church of Saint Francis) is the most important Gothic monument in Oporto, Portugal, being also noted for its outstanding Baroque inner decoration. It is located in the historic centre of the city, declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

[edit] History and art

The Franciscan Order was established in Oporto in the 13th century. They were antagonized and persecuted by the secular and clergy of other religious institutions. It took a papal bull Bulla Doelentis accepimus by Pope Innocent V to restore to them the plot of land donated to them for a monastery. They soon built a first, small church, dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi.

They expanded this small church in 1383 under the patronage of King Ferdinand I, they began to build a more spacious church, following a relatively plain gothic design, typical for the mendicant orders in Portugal. This Construction lasted until the 1425. The general structure of the church has not been extensively altered, making São Francisco the best example of gothic architecture in Oporto. The polychrome granite statue (13th century) of Saint Francis of Assisi, standing next to the entrance, is a remnant of this early period.

The main façade of the Franciscan church has a large, elaborate rose window in gothic style. This is the only original part of the façade. The main portal is now a typical baroque work, with solomonic columns, but the south portal, facing the river, is still gothic.

The church has a three-aisled nave (with the central nave the highest) a transept and an apse with three chapels. The crossing area is intensely illuminated by the large windows of the transept and main chapel, as well as by a small rose window over the main chapel with tracery in the shape of a pentagram.

Inner view of the Church of São Francisco, towards the main chapel.

In the 1530s, architect Diogo de Castilho built in the transept the Chapel of Saint John the Baptist (São João Baptista). This chapel has a beautiful portal and rib vaulting in manueline style, as well an early 16th-century painting, representing the Baptism of Christ, incorporated into a baroque altarpiece. From the same period, the church also has a fine renaissance tomb, imbedded onto a wall.

In these 15th and 16th centuries, several noble families chose this church as their pantheon. In the 17th and 18th centuries these side chapels were extensively decorated with exuberant gilt wood work (talhas douradas) by several Portuguese wood carvers. This decorative richness has become the most notable feature of the Franciscan church, hiding almost completely the original structure. The gilt wood covers almost completely the roofs of the aisles, the pillars, window frames and the chapels.

Among the altarpieces, the most important are those of the main chapel and especially the one that depicts the "Tree of Jesse". This polychromed woodwork was carved by Filipe da Silva and António Gomes (as stated in a contract of 1718). It represents a family tree of Jesus with twelve kings of Judah, connected through branches of the tree to the recumbent body of Jesse. On the top of the tree is Joseph, under the sculpture of the Virgin and the Child. The niches flanking this tree contain statues of St. Anne and St. Joachim (father and mother of Maria) and four Franciscan doctors who wrote about the Immaculate Conception.

Even though the baroque gilt work does not completely harmonise with the gothic structure of the church, its baroque inner decoration is considered one of the most outstanding in Portugal. This opulence, a complete mismatch with the vow of poverty of the Franciscans, became such a thorn in the flesh of the clergy of the town that they closed the church for worship.

Another notable example of gilt wood decoration in Porto is the interior of the Santa Clara Church.

Afire, caused by the siege of Porto in 1833, caused the destruction of the old cloisters and part of the church. The porch was then replaced by the Baroque porch of today.

There are several interesting monuments adjacent to the Church of São Francisco. Beside the main façade are the 18th century, neoclassical Church of the Ordem Terceira de São Francisco and the Dispach House of the Order (Casa de Despachos), which houses a museum and has an interesting baroque interior. Beside the apse is the Stock Exchange Palace (Palácio da Bolsa), a magnificent neoclassical, 19th century palace built by the merchant class of Oporto.