Holy Souls Once Trod Here

[John 2]

In Lisbon we visited the Geronimos Monastery named after St. Gerome (nothing to do with the Chiricahua Apache Indian chief). It originally housed monks of the order of St Gerome tasked with pursuing the well being of sailors and of the "King's Soul". Its now a world heritage sight and tourist destination, known for its architecture and the fact that it is the last resting place of Vasco de Gama. The exterior is limestone as you can see from the first image but the interior is sandstone. If I'm honest, the architectural style is a bit fussy for my taste but that didn't stop me appreciating the jaw dropping quality of the interior stonework. I tried to do it some justice with the images that follow. Definitely worth a visit if you are ever in the city.

1. The Monastery and the Adjacent Gardens


2. Holy Souls Once Trod Here - Five image Panorama


3. The Quad


4. Some of the Cells on the Upper Level


5. One of the archways onto the Quad


6. Part of the Upper Level


7. One of the Windows in the Lower Level


8. The Monastery Church which is still in use. It looked like visitors to it were only admitted in small numbers. Consequently the queue to get in disappeared around the corner of the building. This was taken from an overlooking level.

[Rebel]

Not too keen on #1, but love the rest John.

Stunning architecture and you've captured it beautifully!

PS. You've messed up your numbering

[gregj1763]

John, amazing images. #2 is simply stunning, such a beautiful photograph and I love the last one as it shows the daunting scale of the architecture.
They sure knew how to build them in the old days.
Thanks for sharing.
Greg

[Shadowman]

Nice series, great angles captured.

[Ziggy]

Very enjoyable series of shots you have posted. Have to go with the second one as my pick.

[chauncey]

You've messed up your numbering

BFD...aside from that...the detail captured is great, photo-merge is quite well pulled off.
All things considered...very well done.

[Mike Buckley]

You did a really nice job of photographing the series. Your keepers far outnumber mine and the diversity makes it possible to effectively tell the travel story.

[Manfred M]

A very nice series, John. I really like your pano of the cloisters. Doing one is on my to do list the next time we travel to Europe.

I also like that you have an "Establishing shot", i.e. your first shot to give the viewer an overview of the place. Granted, it is more of a documentation shot than an artistic image, but it does what it is meant to. Getting a decent artistic establishing shot is something I struggle with as well and I suspect it is very difficult to do unless you spend more time at a place and get a chance to photograph when the light is good. That happens all to rarely when one is traveling...

Anyways, great series that is beautifully executed (as always)!

[bnnrcn]

Very nice angles John, I also loved the architecture

[IzzieK]

Thank you for taking us to one of your journeys. It is an enjoyable ride. The overview in the first image is absolutely very nice but #2 merge is stunning to say the least although that person standing on the right seems to be elongated...I have no favourite at all because the rest of them are as exquisite shots. 'Couldn't have asked for a better person than you to photograph this place.

[John 2]

Thank you all for such great comments. Sorry about the numbering. That's what comes from rushing to post before we went out for the day. The monastery must have taken generations to complete and the result is that you are surrounded by astonishing craftsmanship in every direction. It doesn't surprise me that it has become recognised as a World Heritage site. I could have spent hours in there. The first shot wasn't part of the set as conceived. It's taken from the top of the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, another monument nearby. It was just one of a number of general shot of the surrounding landscape but as Manfred says, it serves to illustrate the monastery in it's environment. Thanks all again.