Lorvão Abbey

The Abbey of Our Lady of Lorvão (Portuguese: Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Lorvão), known simply as Lorvão Abbey, was a monastery in the civil parish of Lorvão in the Coimbra District of Portugal. According to tradition, it was founded in the 6th century, but no documentation of the foundation exists until the late 9th century, the period of the Christian Reconquest of the lands, which had then been held by Muslim conquerors for over 150 years. It served a monastic community for a thousand years. Originally housing a community of monks, it initially prospered as a major point of trade between the Christian inhabitants to its north and the Muslim kingdoms to its south. During the 12th century, its workshops were noted for their magnificent illuminated manuscripts. Soon after that, its monks were removed and the monastery became the home of a community of nuns. They occupied the site until the abolition of religious orders in Portugal during the 19th century.

At the start of the 20th century, the buildings were converted into a psychiatric hospital, at the same time being declared a National Monument of the country. The hospital lasted a century and the government is currently developing the property into a museum of the sacred arts under the supervision of the architect João Mendes Ribeiro.