Tags
creepy, Lisbon, mourning figure, photography, photos, São Vicente de Fora, statue, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: creepy
Last year I visited Lisbon and since it was November it was quite wet and not very tourist friendly. However it didn’t bother me too much and I enjoyed my time as I walked around the city and explored all the sights.
On a particularly wet day I ended up inside the magnificent monastery of São Vicente de Fora (St. Vincent Outside the Walls). The huge church and cloisters were incredible to explore – thousands of painted tiles decorating the walls and hallway upon hallway to get lost in.
Since it was so wet and already quite late in the day there weren’t many other visitors and I often had entire rooms, passageways and even the rooftop to myself.
It was eerily quite with just the rain dripping and my steps echoing around me. Entering into the pantheon for the Braganza family (the last monarchs to rule Portugal) I was taken completely by surprised and was more than a little creeped out by the crying figure of a woman hovering over the he tombs of King Carlos and Luis Filipe. heir to the throne. Both were assassinated in 1908 and the weeping statue now mourns them for eternity.
Maybe the Lady in white doesn’t look quite as creepy when the sun is streaming in through the high windows and people flood the space, but on a dark, dull day this mourning figure did startle me – a fleeting moment of creepyness.
jensinewall 