The Brotherhood of the Blessed Sacrament was honoured with the 2010 Vilalva Award for its work in restoring and enhancing the Church of the Sacrament.

This award, worth €50,000, is given annually by the Gulbenkian Foundation to a project that represents an important contribution to the preservation of national historical patrimony. The jury, consisting of Dalila Rodrigues, art historian, António Lamas, engineer, José Pedro Martins Barata, architect, José Sarmento de Matos, olisipographer, and Manuel Costa Cabral, director of the Foundation’s Fine Arts Service, gave the award to this institution – Real e Venerável Irmandade do Santíssimo Sacramento da Igreja da mesma Soberana Invocação da Cidade de Lisboa (Royal and Venerable Brotherhood of the Blessed Sacrament of the Church of the same Sovereign Invocation of the City of Lisbon) – which involved the restoration of the ceilings of the nave and presbytery, the large windows on the side walls of the nave and the nine paintings in the presbytery and baptistery of the church.

The jury emphasised “the quality of the work carried out on a building of great artistic significance, made valuable by its inclusion in Lisbon’s Baixa district”, hoping that the award would serve as an incentive to complete the restoration of the church, particularly its exterior.

The ceilings of the nave and the nine paintings in the presbytery are by the 18th-century painter Pedro Alexandrino. The Parish of the Blessed Sacrament was established in 1584, but the parish church was only completed about a century later. Destroyed by the 1755 earthquake, the current church retains the main walls of the previous one, being the only church rebuilt after the earthquake to maintain its previous structure.

The award will be delivered by the president of the Foundation, Emílio Rui Vilar, on 10 January at 11:30 at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament.