Igreja Matriz da Batalha

The Church of the Exaltation of Santa Cruz is the parish church of Batalha built during the reign of D. Manuel I in 1514 and completed in 1532.

Its architecture was influenced by the Manueline style, visible in its portal with baroque and revivalist features, but due to a seismic shock the roof and part of the bell tower collapsed (1858).

Its construction began in 1514, on the initiative of King D. Manuel, at the request of the village's inhabitants, since the Monastery did not offer parish services for the local population, it is an important testimony to the Manueline phase of the village of Batalha.

The temple was enriched by partial campaigns, of which the late-Baroque one carried out in the 70s of the century stands out. XVIII, the revivalist already in the century. XX, contemplating on the outside the replacement of the ruined bell tower, probably from the 18th century, and the current bell tower.

The main chapel features a Renaissance stone altarpiece, an altar with marble inlays (from the Chapel of the Martyrs of descendants of Lopo Dias de Sousa), the beautiful crossing arch, the stone baptismal font also from the Monastery and the tile covering from the extinct Ara-Coelis Convent, in Alcácer do Sal.

The main facade facing W., delimited by stone corners, buttress on the right side torn by a portal in a polycentric arch topped with small pinnacles of alfiz leaves framed by faceted columns vegetal capitals bands decorated with grotesques flanked by two empty niches composed of canopies of vegetal tracery.

The arch, based on columns with foliage capitals, rises to another three-lobed arch decorated with grilagem, integrating the decoration of the alfiz, which is completed with mushrooms, finials, pine cones where the segments of the arches meet, two circular medallions placed on cut shields, one with an armillary sphere on the right, the other on the left with the Order of Christ cross surmounted by a counter-curved pediment.

The portal is topped by a large window with baroque frames with a counter-curved pediment finished in a cut-out gable, the body of the bell tower has 3 registers separated by a frieze and cornice, the 1st of which is torn by a small gap with a stonework frame, the 2nd is blind and the 3rd is open by bell windows in a full arch.

The interior has a wooden windshield through which you access the nave covered by an ashlar of polychrome tiles with an 18th century pattern with a flagstone floor and covered by a 3-level wooden ceiling.

The high wooden choir with a wooden guard on balusters over the axial door based on corbels and two wooden columns, a baptismal font in the sub-choir protected by a wooden balustrade, two side altars flank the triumphal arch with a parallelepiped table and a bench covered with patterned tiles.

On the Gospel side, the collateral altar has a niche-type altarpiece with a straight plan with three axes and a body of 2 registers. On the Epistle side, a Latin cross stands out, symbolizing Calvary in plain, white tiles bordered by a blue and yellow frieze.

The Church of the Exaltation of Santa Cruz or Igreja Matriz da Batalha was classified as a National Monument on June 23, 1910.