REN Redes Energeticas Nacionais SGPS S A : sponsors Jerónimos monastery conservation project

REN sponsors Jerónimos monastery conservation project 05.05.2021

REN is one of the patrons of the conservation project of the 'Mosteiro dos Jerónimos' (Jerrónimos Monastery), a monument with five centuries of existence, a major symbol of Portuguese culture.

The degradation of its structure, whose main cause is water infiltration, is the basis of a Conservation and Restoration 10 phases' plan, defined by the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage, in partnership with the World Monuments Fund Portugal (WMF Portugal) and under the supervision of its Scientific Committee, which aims at the integral treatment of the church as a whole, with exterior and interior interventions, ongoing from 2012 to 2022, with the support of several patrons.

The support of REN and the other patrons (Brisa, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Fundação MIllenium bcp, Fund Robert Wilson and Prozis) will ensure the execution of the conservation and restoration phases of the interior of the church of the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, which include, in one phase, the cruise area and respective transepts and, in another phase, the central nave and sub-chorus.

Five of the ten phases foreseen have already been carried out, with the intervention on the exterior area being underway, in order to guarantee the treatment of the causes of water ingress, followed by the restoration of the interior integrity and beauty of this portuguese architectural masterpiece of the 16th century. The protocol between the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage and the World Monuments Fund Portugal is formalized this thursday (May 6th).

Considered a jewel of Manueline style, an exclusively Portuguese style, the Jerónimos Monastery has been inscribed on the World Heritage list of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), since 1983, together with the Belém Tower. The last major intervention in the Jerónimos church dates from the 1960s.

In 2022, The Jerónimos' Monastery - the most visited monument in Portugal, with 2.5 million annual entries - celebrates 500 years, and its conservation and restoration is estimated at more than two million euros.

WMF is a private non-profit organization founded in 1965 in the United States, dedicated to the protection of cultural heritage at risk, and has delegations on three continents, sponsoring an ongoing program for the conservation of artistic treasures around the world. It has already supported more than 600 projects in 90 countries, including Portugal, where the Portuguese subsidiary has undertaken conservation and restoration actions in the cloisters of this monastery, in the Tower of Belém, in the Gardens of the Palace of Queluz, in the equestrian statue of José I, in Praça do Comércio, in Lisbon, and the Cathedral of Funchal.