Sacred Heart of Jesus Church

Set in the regular grid of the Avenidas Novas district, this church is part of a larger parochial complex that goes unnoticed by even the most attentive passer-by. The street in front creates an unexpected public space, foregoing the traditional monumentality and welcoming the visitor inside. Breaking with religious traditions, the architects went back to the model of the primitive Romanesque church, heightening the relationship between the religious space and the surrounding community which is heightened by the pared-down and urban aspect that the exposed concrete gives it. A work of refinement in terms of space, detail and light, the church is surprising for whom enters the interior and notices the monumentality of its spatial composition. It is a fundamental example of the work of the Movement for the Renewal of Religious Art (MRAR), which brought together a number of artists and architects interested in regenerating sacred architecture. In 1975 the building won the Valmor Prize. It has been listed as a National Monument since 2010.