Hydrographic Institute Welcomes Visit from the Cultural Cooperative of Colina do Castelo

On March 14, the Hydrographic Institute (IH) welcomed a group of visitors from Largo Alto – Cultural Cooperative of Colina do Castelo, composed of the collective of architects responsible for the conservation and restoration program of the Church of Menino Deus in Lisbon.

This group visited the IH as part of a comparative study of two architectural ensembles that share a Joanine genesis, both initiated as construction projects in the early decades of the 18th century. The architects’ visit to the Hydrographic Institute provided an opportunity to recognize spatial and functional typologies of conventual architecture within the former religious complex of Trinas.

With its imposing ceiling adorned with quadratura and monumental paintings by André Gonçalves—who is also credited with painting the ceiling of the D. João de Castro Auditorium in Trinas—the Church of Menino Deus was classified as a National Monument, one of the earliest designations of its kind in Portugal, dating back to 1918.