The monastery of Santa Maria de Flor da Rosa or Monastery of the Order of the hospital of Flor da Rosa is an imposing monument of the 14th century, founded in 1356. Located in the village of Flor da Rosa, very close to Crato, it is the most important monument of the one of the most emblematic examples of the fortified monastery existing in Portugal and in which is implanted one of the most famous pousadas of the country , built by D. Álvaro Gonçalves Pereira, first prior of Crato and father of Santo Condestável, Mr. Nuno Álvares Pereira, it is in his shadow that the village grows, today sheltering the tomb of the founder and an inn of Enatur.
Story
In 1232, King D. Sancho II donated the village of Crato to the order of the Hospitallers. It was in 1340 that the seat of the Order of the hospital was transferred from Leça do Balio or from Belver to Crato, and the Prior of Crato, D. Alvaro Gonçalves Pereira, decided to establish a chapel in the locality. With the growth of the order, this monastery was erected, the mother house of the order in Portugal, founded in 1356. From the sixteenth century, the Order of the hospital was renamed Order of Malta, a name it retains today.
This monastery is composed of three distinct buildings: a Gothic fortress, a Gothic pavilion, already reworked in the sixteenth century, and the other premises conventual already renaissance and Mudejar. The ensemble has been altered over the centuries, notably in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and later in the twentieth century, where the preservation of the original Gothic plan was more important. In fact, at the time of King D. Manuel I, the monastic space was enlarged to become a royal palace and, with the great earthquake of 1755 and a devastating storm of 1897 which suffered in the region, the whole would have undergone great wear and tear.
The monastery of the Order of the hospital of Flor da Rosa was classified National Monument in 1910 and, in the years 40, restoration work began. Later, in 1991, the architect João Luís Carrilho da Graça, architect João Luís da Graça, undertook the conversion to Pousada de Portugal. It was opened to the public in 1995 and is in the process of becoming this heritage heritage of one of the country’s most acclaimed hostels.
