s, on which are carved large angels, are two
smaller niches with figures, one on each side of the twisted shaft.
Renaissance curves form the heads of these as they do of larger niches,
one on each side of the Holy Family above, which contain the
Annunciation and the Visit of the Wise Men.

Beyond Dom Manoel and his wife are square shafts with more niches and
figures, and beyond them again flatter niches, half Manoelino, half
renaissance. The rest of the west front above the ruined porch is plain
except for a large round window lighting the choir gallery. The
north-west tower does not rise above the roof.

Outside, the church as a whole is neither well proportioned nor
graceful. The great mass of the transept is too overwhelming, the nave
not long enough, and above all, the large windows of the nave too large.
It would have looked much better had they been only the size of the
smaller windows lighting the choir gallery--omitting the one below, and
this would further have had the advantage of not cutting up the
beautiful band of ornament. But the weakest part of the whole design are
the towers, which must always have been too low, and yet would have been
too thin for the massive building behind them had they been higher. Now,
of course, the one finished with a dome has nothing to recommend it,
neither height, nor proportion, nor design. Yet the doorway taken by
itself, or together with the bay on either side, is a very successful
composition, and on a brilliantly sunny day so blue is the sky and so
white the stone that hardly any one would venture to criticise it for
being too elaborate and over-charged, though no doubt it might seem so
were the stone dingy and the sky grey and dull.

The church of Belem may be ill-proportioned and unsatisfactory outside,
but within it is so solemn and vast as to fill one with surprise.
Compared with many churches the actual area is not really very great nor
is it very high, yet there is perhaps no other building which gives such
an impression of space and of freedom. Entering from the brilliant
sunlight it seems far darker than, with large windows, should be the
case, and however hideous the yellow-and-blue checks with which they are
filled may be, they have the advantage of keeping out all brilliant
light; the huge transept too is not well lit and gives that feeling of
vastness and mystery which, as the supports are few and slender, would
otherwise be wanting, while looking westwards