The Santa Joana Museum was founded in 1458 and is considered one of the greatest religious and historical cultural monuments that we can find and visit in the city of Aveiro. Here you can travel in the past and find the experiences of the community of nuns for about four centuries with different styles of architecture while visiting its divisions with so many stories to be told in each one of them.
The museum is located in the former Convent of Jesus of the female Dominican order, where Princess Saint Joana, daughter of King Afonso V, entered in 1472 and led a religious and sanctified life. In this way, she abdicated all her prestige as a monarchical princess to live a simple and religious life until the date of her death on May 12, 1490, which is today a public holiday for the municipality of Aveiro. Princess Santa Joana is considered the patron saint of the city and her canonization took place in 1693. The museum began to be installed in the Convent of Jesus in 1911 after the worsening of religious intolerance.
The museum features two distinct routes that fit perfectly together: The Monumental Route and the Permanent Exhibition, where you can visit the tomb that contains the remains of Princess Santa Joana, the Church of Jesus with a lot of baroque-style architecture around it, the cloister and its chapels, the dining hall and much more about the daily life and utensils used by the nuns at that time.
We can therefore consider a visit to this museum essential for all those who visit the city of Aveiro and want to know more about its history.
