Day 83. Batalha & Lisbon

Сегодня странница слушала эхо и впитывала красоту в монастыре Батальи.

“… And this sincerity leads him to declare the simple pleasure that filled him when he first stepped into the central nave of the abbey, seeing the tall, thick columns which at first form a solid wall blocking off the rest, and then, as one advances down it, gradually open out and reveal the whole extent of the lateral naves, before closing down again. The static becomes dynamic, the dynamic pauses and gains strength from immobility. To walk the length of these naves is to experience all the impressions that the organization of space can create.
The traveler moved on to the royal cloister. Here, the artistic merit is based on decorative rather than structural factors. Were it not for the rich sculptures of the arches, on elaborate columns which support none of the weight, this royal cloister would be scarcely any different from many others whose only ambition was to reserve a privileged space for meditation. It is the Manueline exuberance added to Gothic severity that creates its basically theatrical impact” (© J. Saramago “Journey to Portugal”)

“This is why the traveler, who always accepts he may be wrong, but seeks to be coherent with himself, declares that he was much more impressed by Dom Afonso V’s cloister. It was built by Fernao de Evora, not someone of great genius, but that is not the point here. There is a workmanlike character to the Afonso V cloister, the touch of someone more used to building ordinary courtyards that luxurious palaces, and it is precisely this aspect that moves the traveler: the rustic nature of its design and construction, and the sense of spiritual reflection it creates, when compared to the showy virtuosity of the royal cloister. Viewed as a whole, the Afonso cloister is, to the traveler’s mind, more perfect.” (© J. Saramago “Journey to Portugal”)

“Moving on round the outside of the chapterhouse, the traveler went to visit the mausoleum to Dom Duarte which is absurdly but definitely know as the Unfinished Chapels. Luckily, the pantheon was never completed. If it had been, we would have a vaulted ceiling over our heads, and no surprise at all. But as it is, we have a promise which will never be fulfilled and so remains a promise, and in so doing somehow manages to satisfy as much, if not more, than if it had been completed.” (© J. Saramago “Journey to Portugal”)

День 83. Баталья & Лиссабон