The Sanctuary of Buen Jesús del Monte, located in Braga, in the northwest of Portugal, is an architectural and landscape complex rebuilt and expanded over more than 600 years. It is essentially defined by a long and complex route of sacred route, which extends along the slope of Mount Espinho, leading the pilgrim through chapels that house sculptural groups that evoke the passion of Christ, fountains, statues and classical gardens. Its perimeter, densely wooded, constitutes a picturesque park of lakes with naturalized shapes, artificial caves, buildings and structures of different nature and function. Sanctuary and environment are inseparable; The mountain was shaped to house the Sanctuary, complementing each other, resulting in a unique complex, of high landscape and architectural value that constitutes a sacred mountain, with an approximate area of 30ha.
The architectural and landscape complex of the Sanctuary of Buen Jesús del Monte is integrated into the project to create sacred mountains promoted by the Council of Trent. It configures a sacromonte that is testimony to different moments in the history of the city and the archdiocese of Braga, reaching a unique formal and symbolic complexity, an unprecedented dimension in the context of European sacred mountains, a baroque character and a religious narrative. overloaded, typical of the Counter-Reformation.
It is a masterpiece fruit of creative genius, a monumental staircase where the design models and aesthetic preferences of each construction period are manifested, which translate into a piece of great unity and harmony - the mountain and the staircase merge - organized in two sections: (1) the moments prior to the death of Jesus Christ, which end in the church, the scene of the resurrection of Christ, and (2) the glorious life of the resurrected Christ that culminates in the Terreiro dos Evangelistas, since they are the authors of the entire narrative inscribed along the staircase.
The Sanctuary of Buen Jesús del Monte is a unique expression of the articulation of the material and intangible of the sacred dimension of human life, and a complete and complex manifestation of human constructive genius.
