Monastery of Saint Martin of Tibães

The Monastery of Saint Martin of Tibães, in Braga, originated at the end of the 11th century. It grew in privilege and power and became the motherhouse of the Congregation of St. Benedict of the Kingdoms of Portugal from 1567.

It reached its maximum splendor in the 17th and 18th centuries, after being transformed into one of the largest monastic complexes in Baroque Portugal and an important center for the production and diffusion of cultures and aesthetics. The monastery consists of the church, convent wings and outdoor space. The building that exists today was built during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

After 1834, it was sold at public auction, with the exception of the church, sacristy and cemetery cloister. In 1894, a great fire destroyed the refectory cloister, the refectory, the stove house, the novitiate, the choir, the hospice, the workshops, the painting house and the dormitories. As time went by, the monastery saw its core heritage squandered, degraded and even ruined.

In 1986, the Portuguese State, faced with the degradation and squandering of this heritage over the previous decades, acquired it and began its recovery with studies, registers and cleaning that made the restoration projects that followed possible.

It was classified as a Property of Public Interest in 1944.