Évora Cathedral

Why go

Évora Cathedral's own site is published by its chapter, the Cabido da Sé de Évora, which says construction began around 1280 and was completed around 1350 with the cloister. The chapter describes a Romanesque-Gothic church on a Latin-cross plan, on the same hilltop as the Roman temple it calls the temple of Diana, with a lantern tower and a crenellated terrace that gives it the look of a medieval fortress-church. It dates the Baroque main chapel to the 18th century and credits it to the architect João Frederico Ludovice, and it notes a 16th-century pipe organ of the Iberian type and a 15th-century Gothic stone statue of the pregnant Virgin, Senhora do Ó. The chapter's information page lists a single ticket for the cathedral, cloister, panoramic terrace and museum, which it calls the complete visit. Its 'General view' page says the terrace looks over the walled historic city, the newer neighbourhoods and the plains, as far as the Ossa range to the north and Portel to the south.