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The tour is divided into:

Adoration of the Magi
Our Lady of the Kings
Nativity Scene
Annunciation
The Holy Family

Begin you tour here
Nativity

The theme of Nativity is intimately linked to the building of the Jerónimos Monastery.

Even the place where the monastery was built - Belém (Bethlehem) near Lisbon - is significant. King Manuel I chose to build a large monastery there in honour of Saint Mary of Bethlehem (Santa Maria de Belém) or Our Lady of the Kings, as it bears the same name as the town where Jesus was born, and to which the Three Wise Men travelled from the East.

Nativity Scene, detail of Main Portal

Also, in accordance with tradition, the first stone for its construction was laid on 6 January 1501 (Epiphany), invoking the miracle of Jesus coming to Earth. The Monastery was thus dedicated not only to Our Lady, but also to the Three Kings.

The Nativity became a scene of Adoration in Western art towards the end of the Middle Ages. Depictions focused on the kneeling Virgin, with hands held together in prayer in front of the naked and radiant Child, lying in a manger, or on his blanket.

With the passage of time, paintings of the Nativity in European art broadened into two complementary themes: the Adoration of the Three Kings (or Magi), and the Nativity scene. The way these two themes were depicted, usually featuring crowds of people, turned the Nativity into something of a spectacle.

St. Francis of Assis is considered to be the first to depict the Nativity scene using figures gathered around the manger and the Franciscans became active propagators of this tradition until it was firmly established throughout Christian Europe. It was astonishingly popular in Portugal by the 18th century.

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