Church of Populo - Braga

The Church of Populo is part of the Monastery of Populo.

The invocation (lat: Sanctae Mariae de Populo) comes from the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome (of great importance for the Order of Saint Augustine) and, more precisely, from the icon image venerated there (and to which Brother Augustine of Jesus was very devoted).

The church was built in 1596 on the initiative of the then Archbishop of Braga, D. Frei Agostinho de Jesus (de Castro). The construction of the entire complex dragged on from the 16th to the 19th century.

Much of the building (including the facade) was rebuilt at the end of the 18th century to a design by architect Carlos Amarante.

With the disappearance of the male religious orders (1834), the complex passed into the hands of the state and from 1841 the monastery building became home to an Infantry Regiment .

Since 1996, the monastery has been part of the buildings of the municipality of Braga. Guided tours are organised, especially to admire the tiles.

The church has a Mannerist architectural structure , with a single nave (with endonartex), covered by a barrel vault with stone coffers, with three interconnected side chapels. Blue and white tiles cover the entire walls.

The tiles in turn illustrate different themes, depending on the invocation of the place where they are located. In the main chapel, panels refer to episodes from the life of Saint Augustine (c. 1730); in the chapel of the Holy Trinity, they represent Veronica and Moses and the bronze serpent ; they refer to episodes from the lives of the saints to whom they are dedicated; at the entrance, again, references to the life of Saint Augustine ; in the old chapel of Nossa Senhora da Penha, two episodes on processions with the flag of the Order and, finally, in the upper register of the nave walls, 16 saints of the Order .

A panel in the Santa Apolónia chapel deserves special mention because it was signed by António de Oliveira Bernardes, who is also said to have covered the Santa Rita chapel.

The main altarpiece is a combination of Rococo and Neoclassical style with a large gold and polychrome structure that frames the image of Our Lady of Pópulo on the tribune.

Willem Vandenameele