m Manoel's great embassy to Rome in 1514, when the wonders of
the East were displayed before the Pope, that he might easily be
familiar with Indian carvings or paintings, and that finally there are
no such balconies elsewhere in Portugal. All that may be true, and yet
in his own town of Evora there are still many pavilions more like the
smaller balconies than are those in India, and it surely did not need
very great originality to put such a pavilion on corbels and so give the
tower its most distinctive feature. As for the turrets, in Spain there
are many, at Medina del Campo or at Coca, which are corbelled out in
much the same way, though their roofs are different, and like though the
melon-shaped dome of the turrets may be to some in Gujerat, they are
more like those at Bacalhoa, and surely some proof of connection between
Belem and Gujerat, better than mere likeness, is wanted before the
Indian theory can be accepted. That the son of an Indian viceroy should
roof his turrets at Bacalhoa with Indian domes might seem natural; but
the turrets were certainly built before he bought the Quinta in 1528,
and neither they nor the house shows any other trace of Indian
influence.

The night of July 7, 1497, the last Vasco da Gama and his captains were
to spend on shore before starting on the momentous voyage which ended at
Calicut, was passed by them in prayer, in a small chapel built by Prince
Henry the Navigator for the use of sailors, and dedicated to Nossa
Senhora do Restello.

Two years later he landed again in the Tagus, with a wonderful story of
the difficulties overcome and of the vast wealth which he had seen in
the East. As a thankoffering Dom Manoel at once determined to found a
great monastery for the Order of St. Jerome on the spot where stood
Prince Henry's chapel. Little time was lost, and the first stone was
laid on April 1 of the next year.

The first architect was that Boutaca who, about ten years before, had
built the Jesus Church at Setubal for the king's nurse, Justa Rodrigues,
and to him is probably due the plan. Boutaca was succeeded in 1511 by
Lourenco Fernandes, who in turn gave place to Joao de Castilho in
1517[129] or 1522.

It is impossible now to say how much each of these different architects
contributed to the building as finished. At Setubal Boutaca had built a
church with three vaulted aisles of about the same height. The idea was
there carried out very clumsily, but it is quite likely that