Convento das Bernardas Tavira & an opportunity that only comes along once.

The former monastery Convent das Bernardas in Tavira belonged to the Order of the Cistercians. It spans 500 years of history and was the largest monastery building in the Algarve in its time. Built on the orders of King Manuel I, it was the base for 300 years for the nuns of the Bernardes Convent, known for their egg-based sweets, toffees and religious icons. The square floor plan was typical of the Cistercian style and included 2 monasteries and a church. During the great earthquake of 1755, this building - like so many in Lisbon and the Algarve - was severely damaged. The imposing bluestone entrance - in late Gothic or Manuel style - survived the earthquake and the various adjustments later and still determines the striking facade of the city. After the nuns left the monastery, it was sold at public auction in 1834 to a manufacturer who had a dough factory there for many years.

When the Entrepots company took ownership of the building, they asked architect Eduardo Souto de Moura to draw up a plan for the restoration and conversion into 76 apartments of T0-T3. The project was completed in 2012 and the first sales started. In addition to the 76 apartments, the complex has two swimming pools, including one with salt water in the courtyard. Despite the necessary interventions, architect Eduardo Souto da Moura has succeeded in preserving the old, private atmosphere of the monastery building. By carefully creating openings in the old monastery walls, he manages to get enough daylight in to meet the living requirements of a twenty-first century resident. The design and finish of this complex are among the absolute top, as you would expect from an architect who was awarded the Pritzker Prize - the Nobel Prize for architects - in 2011.

In the courtyard of the complex, Moorish and medieval atmospheres compete for their beauty around an exuberant swimming pool lined with greenery and palm trees, which is most reminiscent of a film location from One Thousand and One Nights. When you suddenly experience the view with an arch at the end of the courtyard, which serves as a landscape framework for the lonely tree further down in the salt pan, you will understand why Souto de Moura received the prestigious “European Prize for Intervention in Architectural Heritage 2017” for this project.

However, for the project developer Entrepots, this price came too late to boost the sales of the apartments, which had almost come to a standstill due to the crisis of 2007. After the necessary lawsuits with the financiers, during which sales came to a complete standstill, the developer's bank was in 2017 in charge of the sale of the still available properties and the apartments from gross 95 m2 / net 60 m2 and a price of € 240,000 were sold. For investors in holiday apartments and for buyers looking for something special, at that time an opportunity that only comes along once.