Mosteiro Santo Agostinho da Serra do Pilar — Attraction in Vila Nova de Gaia

A beautiful church. The first Marian apparition in history appeared to Saint James the Apostle, the brother of Saint John the Evangelist, on the bank of the river Ebro in Saragossa, Spain. Unlike every other recorded apparition, this one took place during the earthly life of the Mother of God.

According to tradition, she had promised Saint James that when he needed it most in his difficult mission to the pagans in today's Spain, she would appear to him to encourage him. In the year 40 A.D., while praying one night on the tobrt bank, the Virgin appeared with the Child Jesus standing on a pillar and asked Saint James and his eight disciples to build a church on the site, promising that “it will stand from that moment until the end of time in order that God may work miracles and wonders through my intercession for all those who place themselves under my patronage.”

The church of Our Lady of the Pilar in Zaragoza, is the first church dedicated to Mary in history and it remains standing to this day, having survived invasions and wars – in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 three bombs were dropped on the church and none of them exploded.

Our Lady is also said to have given the small wooden statue of the apparition to Saint James which now stands on a pillar in the church.

Nuestra Señora del Pilar is the patron of Spain and all Hispanic peoples. October 12, 1492, the feast of the Virgin of the Pillar, is the day Christopher Colombus first sighted American land, and when the first Mass in the Americas...

The monastery was founded around 1537–1538, when Augustinian monks relocated from the nearby Monastery of Grijó to establish a new foundation. The original monastery was completed in 1564, followed by the cloister in 1583, and the church with its dome in 1672. Operated by the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine, the monastery later took on a military function in the 19th century. During the 1832 Cerco do Porto (Siege of Porto), it was fortified and used as a strategic stronghold by liberal forces. Both the church and cloister are notable for their perfectly circular layouts, a highly unusual design in Portugal. The architecture blends Renaissance and Mannerist styles, with an emphasis on geometric clarity and the visual transparency of the circular dome and cloister. From the monastery, visitors can enjoy sweeping views of the Douro River and the city of Porto — especially beautiful at sunset and at night, when the landscape is bathed in warm light or city...

Historical building featuring an incredibly original architecture of different styles and epochs, but most remarkable is the Rococo church and cloister, both of perfectly circular shape. Remarkable decorative details in carved granite stone of a very rare colour. The place was taken away from the property of the religious order and stopped being a monastery in the times of King Joseph I and under the politics of nationalizing a lot the catholic church' property, under the initiative of the Prime-Minister at the time, Marquês de Pombal. Henceforth a military base, now of Artillery, it withstood heroically ver strong and severe attacks by the french invading army of Junot, without having ever...