Convento de Santa Cruz do Buçaco

Convento de Santa Cruz do Buçaco is a former Carmelite monastery in the Mata Nacional do Buçaco (Buçaco Forest) protected forest of the Serra do Buçaco, Portugal.

Preserved chapel of the Convento de Santa Cruz do Buçaco beside the Palace Hotel.

It was constructed in 1628.^[1] It closed in 1834 following the suppression of male religious orders and dissolution of the monasteries in Portugal at the end of the Portuguese Civil War.^[2]

Most of the buildings were demolished and the stones were reused in the Palace Hotel of Buçaco.^[3] However the chapel of the convent, with Baroque altarpieces, remains beside the hotel.

References

1. Coimbra and The Beiras, Portugal: Frommer's ShortCuts 2012 "In 1628, they founded a monastery at Buçaco and built it with materials from the surrounding hills. Around the forest,they erected a wall to isolate themselves further and to keep women out. The friars had a special love for plants and trees, and ..."
2. Frommer's Portugal Darwin Porter, Danforth Prince - 2012 -- Page 294 "Though the monastery was abolished in 1834, the forest survived. Filled with natural spring waters, the earth bubbles with many cool fountains, the best known of which is Fonte Fria (cold fountain). "
3. VARELA GOMES, Paulo, «BUÇACO, o deserto dos Carmelitas Descalços», XM, Coimbra, 2005.

40.3761°N 8.3714°W / 40.3761; -8.3714