“Stonemasons’ Marks” Clutch

Organise your things with this exclusively designed bag, inspired by the S. João de Tarouca Monastery. Now it will be easier to have your favourite accessories always at hand, in this 100% cotton bag.

Inspired by:

The effort to build the monastic complex of São João de Tarouca in the 12th century was colossal, as witnessed by the more than 360 stonemasons’ marks that can be seen on the various buildings.

Their study suggests hierarchies of labour and allows us to see that there were stonemasons who spent long years working on the site, while others participated only briefly, a consequence of the itinerant nature of this profession, as a result of which we can find some of these marks on other medieval monuments in the region, including the Cistercian monastery of Santa Maria de Salzedas.

The stonemasons’ marks are therefore an indispensable source of information for knowledge of medieval architecture and specifically Cistercian architecture, presenting, besides identity marks, utilitarian marks such as positioning, tooling, height or origin marks, practically all of which are still visible today in the São João de Tarouca Monastery.