Igreja de São Francisco

São Francisco is a fourteenth-century Gothic church whose interior was filled, between roughly 1690 and 1750, with talha dourada - carved and gilded woodwork covering columns, arches, walls and ceiling in vines, cherubs, birds and foliage, using several hundred kilos of gold leaf. The best-known piece is the Tree of Jesse on the north wall, Christ's genealogy carved as a tree with figures on its branches. The result was considered so lavish that the church was deconsecrated in the nineteenth century and has not been used for worship since; it functions as a monument. Beneath it are the catacombs, where members of the Franciscan order and lay brotherhood were buried in numbered vaults, with an ossuary of stacked bones visible through a glass floor panel. It stands beside the Palácio da Bolsa, and the two are usually visited together.

What you actually see

• The gilded interior - carved woodwork under several hundred kilos of gold leaf.
• The Tree of Jesse - Christ's genealogy carved as a tree with figures on the branches.
• The catacombs - numbered burial vaults beneath the church.
• The ossuary - stacked bones visible through a glass panel in the floor.

When to go

Year-round. One hour. Queues build through the day; early is better. The church is deconsecrated, so there are no services to work around.

Honest expectations

Photography is prohibited inside, which frustrates most visitors. Queues in season. The catacombs and bone ossuary disturb some people. The interior is dim, which is deliberate for conservation.

Nearby

The Palácio da Bolsa is next door; the Ribeira and the river are below.