The pousada is huge with various distinguishing features, such as its large Baroque portico. Visible from the street and providing access to the Convento Beja Pousada’s main entrance, it took over 30 years to build (between the 17th and 18th centuries). Like many other pousadas, the former São Francisco convent offers a fascinating collage of different eras and different uses, having originally been built between the 12th and 14th centuries.
Home to Franciscan monks until the monasteries were dissolved in 1834, much of its property was given over to the State. Like many other religious buildings, the convent was abandoned for years and suffered bouts of vandalism (e.g., tombs were made into sinks and dragged outdoors). In 1850, it was made into barracks, hosting two infantry regiments. Unfortunately, little care was taken of the buildings, with old tiles being stripped from the walls and frescoes painted over. Some of these acts were rectified over a century later, in the early 1990s, when the old convent became one of the Pousadas de Portugal.
The São Francisco Pousada, as it was known at the time, opened in 1994 with an architectural project that aimed to revive the convent’s history: the monks’ refectory was turned into an impressive dining room, while the Franciscan cells were transformed into 35 rooms on the upper floors. The outdoor spaces were the responsibility of renowned landscape architect, Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles, who designed the garden from scratch, in what was a practically deserted area. Covered with ivy and dotted with roses, the side corridors are worth visiting.
Different parts of the cloister galleries are interesting, such as the chapter house, whose vaulted ceiling is covered with murals, and the tomb chapel (now called the Gothic chapel). The latter is the only part that has remained virtually intact since the initial construction and is one of the most important examples of Gothic architecture in southern Portugal.