Mafra Basilica

 Mafra is massive, crazy, megalomanic : the Escorial of Portugal. I had  seen it on our first Portuguese trip in  May 2004. There wasn't time to go back this year (2023) so I am revisiting online. When in Olbidos browsing in a fantastic bookshop in a disused church I found a travelogue about Portugal by Jose Saramago (Journey to Portugal, 1990) and recognised it as the very same book that I had seen a few weeks earlier in England and thought to be a good read. 

Bookshop in Obidos in an old church

 I hadn't realised that this was a famous Portuguese writer. I bought it, expecting to be praised by the assistant for my erudition, I now understand from her attitude that not everyone thinks he was such a good thing. He was a controversial figure. A few days later I bought his first novel  'Baltasar and Blimunda.(1982) I soon  realised that here was the book I needed to read about King John V and Mafra, It was not quite what I had expected. Instead  it was a violent critique written by a rabid communist! Reading  'Journey to Portugal 'at the same time it is amazing how the author loves old buildings, particularly Romanesque churches. In both books  his knowledge of Catholicism  is phenomenal but his distaste for its organisation, ritual and belief is so strong. He loves to ridicule the Church, its ministers and especially lecherous Franciscans. In 'Baltasar and  Blimunda' we are told about how the King promises in 1711 to build a Franciscan convent in Mafra within a year if his wife bears an heir. They had been married nearly three years without issue. 

The UNESCO citation about Mafra states :

"The Royal Building of Mafra reflects the materialization of absolute power from the time of the King João V, as well as a strategy for consolidation of the Portuguese empire and national sovereignty, affirmation of the dynastic legitimacy, a closer proximity to the international sources of authority, namely of the Papacy of Rome, as well as distancing from the Spanish Crown. The international dimension of the Portuguese empire and the grandeur of its sovereign are at the origin of the gigantism of this construction and the aesthetic options taken, directly inspired by some of the best examples of Baroque architecture in the city of Rome. "

The complex comprising Palace, Basilica, Convent, Cerco Garden and Hunting Park  became a UNESCO site in 2019. Watch the introductory video below to get the idea.

Anyone who reads 'Baltasar and Blimunda' will be horrified at the amount of money and human effort that went into its construction. It took 13 years employing 15,000 workers and as many as 45,000 at times, drawn from the whole country. It was only possible because the King received vast amounts of gold, silver and diamonds from Brazil. Up to 7000 soldiers were also employed to keep order during the construction. Apparently as many as 1383 workers died and there was a hospital for the sick and wounded. The site involved levelling the ground and 400 kg of gunpowder was used to blast it into shape. The story of Baltasar moving a huge stone over hilly terrain is horrendous. Doubtless the construction of so many of the churches on this blog that I have written about involved huge effort and cruelty, but I suspect that Mafra was exceptional.

King John V

The Queen gave birth on cue to a daughter, Barbara, and hence moves were made to build a convent. The site was agreed in 1713 and purchased by 1716 and construction started   17 November 1717 in a huge ceremony attended by the King, entire court and the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon. The initial plans were small scale but as the gold and diamonds  got very plentiful the King inflated it to include a palace and much larger convent for 330 friars and a library for 30,000 books. John V is sometimes called John the Magnanimous - he was a generous patron of the arts, but wilful in his demands. Most of this patronage involved foreign artists for he would only settle for the best craftsmen and materials. The prime architect was the German Johann Friedrich Ludwig, an exponent of recent art in Rome, where he had studied.

The inauguration of the building was 22 October 1730. It was nowhere near finished- the lantern on the cupola was done in 1735. The 1730 festivities went on 8 days with the basilica being dedicated to Our Lady and St Anthony.

The facade is 220 metres long and reminiscent of St Peter's Rome with the central white marble basilica and its balcony. The two church towers evoke St Agnese in Agone (Borromini). There are two rows of Corinthian columns between the towers containing marble statues of St Dominic, St Francis, and St Clara and St Elizabeth of Hungary. The basilica is a Latin cross 63 metres long, 16.5 metres wide and a nave 21.5 metres high. The interior has much local rose-coloured marble mingled with white marble, a barrel vault resting on fluted Corinthian columns. The cupola also is reminiscent of St Agnese in Agone.

There are six organs today, four in the transepts  put in 1806-7 in King John VI's reign when the palace was in greater use again. They have recently been restored (1998-2010). To hear them try the concert below. 

Perhaps more remarkable are the two carillons in the towers, 56 in the north tower made in Liege and 54 in the southern made in Antwerp.They can operate from the the huge clocks in each tower or manually from keyboards. There is a story that when John V was told the price of a carillon he replied "I didn't expect it to be that cheap, I'll have two". Experts rate them very highly and they were first played at the inaguration in 1730. However, William Beckford the 18th century novelist and ecentric was not so impressed in 1787 : on his visit he heard "a confounded jingle of all the bells : then followed by a most complicated sonata, banged off on the chimes by a great proficient." To hear the carillons and see a performer try the video below.

The finest liturgical vestments were ordered by the King from France and Genoa and Milan. There are fine Italian paintings here and in the convent, and the sculpture collection  has works by nearly all major Roman sculptors of the first half of the 18th century.

The Rococo Library on the second floor at the back of the complex in the convent is 88 metres long, 9.5 wide and 13 high. By Manuel Caetano de Sousa, it is a marvel, with floor tiles of rose, grey and white marble.The rococo wooden bookshelves are in two rows separated by a balcony. The 36,000 leather bound books included some that were originally prescribed by the Church and today  constitute  a rfemarkable collection of western knowledge 14th-19th century. There are traditionally a colony of bats kept to protect the books from insect damage. I have never seen a bat, let alone in the Library at Mafra!!