Mosteiro dos Jerónimos

This incredible testament to the vast wealth reaped in the Americas and Asia by the Portuguese is perhaps Lisbon’s crowning jewel, displaying one of the finest examples of Manueline architecture in the world. Once the home of an order of Hieronymite monks, the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos was built on the site of an existing hermitage founded by Henry the Navigator in 1450. Here, in 1497, Vasco da Gama and his crew spent the night praying before departing for India.

Amazingly, the monastery was unscathed by the 1755 earthquake, but nearly collapsed when vacated following the abolition of religious orders in Portugal. Inside the ornate church you can see the stone tombs of Vasco da Gama and of the great Golden Age poet Luís de Camões. The monastery, now a UNESCO monument, was where the 2007 Treaty of Lisbon was signed by EU heads of state, laying down the basis for a European Constitution and for major reforms of the European Union.

Praça do Império. Tel: 21 362 0034. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 17:00 in October to April and to 18:00 in May to September. It is closed on 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May and 25 December.