Architecture and the Baroque

The baroque breaks one of the concepts left by the Renaissance, a cultural movement that defended the primacy of reason over emotion. Baroque art manifests, through the grandeur of its decoration, the primacy of emotion over reason. The Baroque is an art of contrasts that also developed as a way to recover believers divided by the Reformation, and to consolidate their faith, impressing them by their senses and emotions, thus leading them to elevate their devotion to God.

The architecture of the Clerics is characterised by the irregularity and exaggeration of the forms that originate a surprising scenic effect. The irregular plans stand out, the corrugated facades, highlighted by a contrast of protrusions, balconies and recesses, interrupted arches, and a great profusion of varied windows, complemented by the exuberant bell tower. The Church façade, especially the gable, is a beautiful decorative work, perhaps the most baroque language in the whole building, in which Nasoni combines straight lines with semicircular lines, decorating it with ornamental and symbolic motifs, among which, wreaths, festoons, scrolls, bundles of vegetation, vases and fires.

In Portugal, baroque art prevailed between the late seventeenth century and the mid-eighteenth century.