Octant Évora

The Roman Temple, over 2000 years old, is the ex-libris monument of Évora and is one of the most important historic ruins in the country. The Roman temple in Évora was built in the first century, during the time of Caesar Augustus. It has a long history, serving as testimony to many transformations and different uses over the centuries. It was practically destroyed when the Barbarians occupied the Iberian peninsular in the fifth century, and served as a bank vault and butcher’s to Evora castle in the 14th century.

Church of São Francisco - Évora One of the striking features of the façade is a church porch with arches of different styles - a typical example of the "marriage" between Gothic and Moorish style found in so many monuments of this region in Portugal. Over the Manueline doorway we can see the emblems of the kings that commissioned its construction - D. João II and D. Manuel I - whose emblems were the pelican and armillary sphere respectively. One particularity of the Church is that it has a single nave, terminating in a ribbed vaulted ceiling, that has the largest span of all Portuguese Gothic architecture. On the sides we can see twelve chapels, all covered in Baroque carved woodwork. The main chapel, dating from the early 16th century, still maintains important Renaissance features such as the pulpits. It's well worth noting the harmonious decoration of stone, carved woodwork and azulejo tiles in the chapel of the third order, on one of the arms of the transept. Inside, visitors can see the strange Bones Chapel, built during the Filippine period (17th-century). The pillars and walls are completely covered by bones. It's also worth noting the late Renaissance doorway where the capitals of the columns seem to be decorated in a different manner according to whether one is looking from the exterior or interior.

The cromlech of Almendres is composed by 95 stones set in two circles. Some of the stones are decorated with schematic and geometric carvings. A little further away we can see the Menhir which is about 4 metres high. Recent researches proved that the most part of the stones are in their original place and date the cromlech from the neolithic ( 4.000 a.C.) and chalcolithic (2.500 a.C.).