Classified by UNESCO as World Heritage since 2007 the Batalha Monastery, also known as Saint Mary of Victory Convent, is one of the greatest architectonic jewels of Portugal.

The building was ordered after the victory in the Ajubarrota Battle as a thankful promise by king D. João I, the Master of the Avis Order. The construction works started in 1388, under the project of Afonso Domingues.

The Batalha Monastery is nowadays the great Portuguese late Gothic Monument and the first one where the very Portuguese Manueline art featured.

In 1402 comes the Flamboyant Gothic influence by Master Huguet that is in charge of the construction works, offering a new inspiration to the monument. In this period is started the construction of the Chapter’s Room vault, the Founder Chapel and the Imperfect Chapels.
Later was built the D. Afonso V Cloyster (signed by Fernão de Évora) and the cloister galleries were closed.

The Monastery had, by then, its construction works finished abruptly, probably because of the construction of other monuments, such as the majestic Belém Monastery in Lisboa. It got unfinished ever since, despite the fact that around 1840 some conservation works were made, lasting many years.

It is known that to the initial project of the Monastery correspond the several dependencies such as the Chapter House, the Refectory, the Sacristy, the Church and the Cloister, among others, in many ways similar in structural terms to the nearby project: the Alcobaça Monastery.

In Batalha Monastery is located the most important medieval stained glass windows nucleus, which can be seen in the main chapel and in the chapter house, housing as well the important archive and collection of the Ricardo Leone workshop.

Some studies revealed that a small and modest temple, known as Old Church, would have been built in the beginning of the first construction works of the Monastery, where the ceremonies for all the workmen were celebrated.