File:Unesco World Heritage Site - The Batalha Monastery (23050496941).jpg

The Monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória, known as the Monastery of Batalha (that literally translated means the Monastery of the Battle), is located in the town of Batalha in the center region of Portugal.

It was built as a result of the promise made on the battlefield, by King João I to the Virgin Mary, under the pressure of all that was at stake, to build a monastery if victory were his on the famous 1385 Battle of Aljubarrota over the Castilians. It serves as well as the burial church of the 15th-Century Aviz dynasty of Portuguese royals. The Monastery (that is one of the best examples of Gothic architecture in Portugal), gave life to its surroundings and shaped their development over more than six centuries.

As Capelas Imperfeitas (The Unfinished Chapels) remain as a testimony of the fact that the monastery was never actually finished. They form a separate octagonal structure tacked on the choir of the church and only accessible from the outside. It was commissioned in 1437 by King Edward of Portugal as a second royal mausoleum for himself and his descendants, but only him and his queen Eleanor of Aragon are buried here. The octagonal rotunda has seven radiating hexagonal chapels. In the corners of the chapels stand the massive unfinished buttresses, that were intended to support the vault. The portal rises to a monumental fifteen meters. It was originally built in Gothic style, but was transformed beyond recognition by Mateus Fernandes into a masterpiece of Manueline style and completed in 1509.