Visit the Convent of Corpus Christi - Santa Marinha (Vila Nova de Gaia)

The Convent of Corpus Christi, located in the Town of Santa Marinha, has the church centered design, is organized along an axis, with octagonal vaulted nave, the chancel choir to the east and west, crowned by a dome. In artistic terms, especially the four side altars (with images of rare beauty], the Choir-Alto (site of the first phase of the Baroque, consisting of a distributed stalls on two levels, in the shape of "U" and gilt), the roof consists of 49 decorated panels with oil paintings on wood. The imaginary painting and decorating the church (the roof of the choir, the choir stalls and altarpieces backrest) present an iconography that fits the theme of the Order, representing Saints, Doctors of Church, Dominican and other figures, with emphasis on three main devotions, the Holy Rosary, the name of Jesus and the Eucharist. The stalls, the first half of the seventeenth century, for the hours the office for meetings and convent, has the particularity of In each seat, there is a different figurehead, representing blacks or exotic, plant and animal species, and each scroll is a carved mask, each one different from the others, suggesting influences of Overseas Empire.
Here lies buried D. Leonor Alvim, wife of Constable D. Nuno Alvares Pereira, and grandmother, Don Aboim Maria Mendes, who died in 1355 and founded the convent, is also here the coffin of Cernache Alvaro Anes, first lord of Gaia, which was Flag Lieutenant Ward Valentine at the Battle of Aljubarrota (1385).