The Carmelitas Church or Convent of São João Evangelista takes us back to the beginning of the 17th century, at a time when Lady Brites de Lara, widow of Pedro de Médicis, had a palace built next to the village walls. A few years later, he asked King João IV to found a convent there, which took some time to build due to delays with the authorization, but as soon as it was granted, his heir Raimundo de Lencastre fulfilled his will. Only in 1658 did the first Carmelita nuns arrive in Aveiro.
The current appearance of the church does not value its original architecture, since, in 1904 due to the decision to open the current Praça Marquês de Pombal, the building suffered an amputation that sacrificed a significant part of the convent's dependencies, namely: the high choir, part of the cloister and several chapels that were connected to the convent.
The church preserves the combination of gold in the carving and blue and white in the typical Portuguese Baroque tiles, with the churches covered in gold on blue, which symbolized perfection. Its sacristy has a ceiling with colored panels and there is also a painting of Nossa Senhora do Carmo protecting the Carmelite family of Conceição, patron saint of Portugal, among other religious figures.
It is really worth visiting this former convent whether for religious or cultural tourism or simply to contemplate this fantastic monument.
