Santo Ildefonso, Baroque church in Cedofeita, Portugal
Santo Ildefonso is a Baroque church in Porto, Portugal, sitting on a hillside above Praça da Batalha and facing a busy square. It has two towers flanking a wide facade covered in blue and white tiles, and the interior features gilded woodwork, stained glass windows, and an ornate altar.
An older chapel on the site was torn down in the early 1700s to make way for the current building, which was largely finished by 1730. Further decorative work continued over the following two centuries as the church grew in prominence within the city.
The church takes its name from a 7th-century Visigoth bishop of Toledo who was later made a saint. Inside, a gilded wooden altar built in the Italian style draws the eye as soon as you step through the door.
The church sits close to Praça da Batalha and is easy to reach on foot from the city center. Since it is an active parish church, visiting outside of service hours gives you more time to look around the interior calmly.
The tile panels on the facade were added in 1932, nearly two centuries after the church itself was built. They were made by Jorge Colaço, an artist known for painting large narrative scenes on ceramic tile across Portugal.
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