Santuário do Bom Jesus do Monte - stock photo

The Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte, also known as the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Braga, is a set-architectural landscape formed by a church, a stairway which is developing the Via Sacra of the Bom Jesus, an area of forest, some hotels and a funicular.The stairway with 267 degrees will be flanked by 20 chapels representing the ground path of the founder of Christian society.  The portico at the entrance, surprises us by its false segmental arch which gave its weight but also shows the coat of D. Rodrigo de Moura Teles, responsible for the construction, in 1723, the first major flight of stairs and chapels. In the first courtyard are the first two chapels of the cross, the Upper Room Chapel and the Chapel of the Garden, built in the original layout of the sanctuary. Beside each, a source with allegories to pagan gods and upon Gospel passages depicting the step represented. Then we started up the staircase, built with various sections interspersed with courtyards, a floor of white stones that supposedly relieve the rise. After the first three sections is the Chapel of the Prison, where he witnesses the kiss of Judas, and you can drink water from the fountain of Diana and the Chapel of Darkness, where you see Jesus blindfolded, next to the fountain of Mars. Then, the Chapel of the Whips, with flagellation of Christ and the power of Mercury and the Coronation Chapel, where we witness the coronation of Jesus Christ with crown of thorns.Continuing the ascent has the Chapel of Ecce Homo, where Jesus stands before Pilate and across the way to Calvary Chapel, with the son of God bearing his Cross and Chapel of Cyrene, with Jesus fallen being helped by Simon of Cyrene Crucifixion and mark the end of the first big flight of stairs, giving rise to the stairway of the Five Senses, the final stage but also the longest to reach the Temple of Bom Jesus do Monte.