The Ashes Museum is installed in a room, designed by Engineer Eça Guimarães, attached to the church of the former N.ª Sr.ª da Encarnação Convent, today better known as S. Francisco Church. The convent was erected in 1522 by D. ª Isabel Mendanha that, after its completion, handed to 12 religious people, the number later increased to 20.
The extinction in 1834 of the Convent, caused the dispersion of all its assets. The basis of the Museum’s collection is 16 images belonging to the Ashes Procession.
The collection is made up of record books, liturgical vessels, iris embroidery, golden embroidered dresses and procession biers, the Procession utensils, silverware, and sacred images from the thirteenth century until the eighteenth century.
The exhibition is organized from a central piece - The Stigmatization of São Francisco - around which all others are images that embody the religious subservience. In the upper gallery, the liturgical vessels and all the documentation are found.
Location: Vila do Conde
