Mosteiro de Leça do Balio

It is believed that a Roman Temple of Jupiter and a Villa stood on the spot where the monastery is now.

However, according to tradition, the original construction of the place dates back to a small monastery with a church, built in the 10th century, in connection with the Christian reconquest, at the time of the first Asturo-Leonian monarch. No element of these pre-Romanesque buildings has survived to this day.

During the 11th century, the monastery is mentioned in several documents. In 1094 the patronage was transferred to the See of Coimbra through a donation from Raimundo de Borgonha, Count of Galicia, and his wife Urraca I of León and Castile.
In the 12th century, D. Afonso Henriques (1112-1185) donated the Leça Couto to the Hospitaller Order. The chapter house of the order was established in the original monastery, which later became the seat of one of several bailiffs.

Under the ownership of the Hospitallers, the monastery underwent expansions and renovations, giving it military elements in the Romanesque style, the most striking element of which was the construction of a massive crenellated tower.

The current church, a synthesis of Romanesque and Gothic styles, dates back to a major construction campaign between 1330 and 1336.

The Leça do Balio monastery experienced the extinction of religious orders (1834) and was integrated into the municipality of Bouças (now Matosinhos) in 1835.

Two monkeys (?) on the left