Fountain of Five Wounds
The fountain of the 5 Wounds or fountain of the 5 Currents was built by Master Diogo Soares in 1744, assuming himself as the gateway to the 5 way staircase. It replaces the
original Fountain of the 7 Castles (for displaying the seven castles of the coat of arms of D. Rodrigo de Moura Teles).
Oudated some steps we are surprised with the elegant frontispiece of the fountain, introduced between 4 bonds between facades of good craft.
The fountain of the 5 Rochaille ornament wounds, enclosed in a shield, casts fillets of crystalline water through 5 openings in the shape of sores in a granite cup or ladle, with a voluminous back and ornamented in relief by the instruments of Christ’s passion: chalice, ropes, azorrague, crown of thorns, hammers, pliers, dice, açoutes, tunic, container of vinegar, topped with a cross.
From a shield, in the form of a coat of arms, come 5 small openings that correspond to the five wounds of the body of Christ. From these 5 spouts, water gushes into a bowl or granite shell, raised in a porch with two steps.
In the fountain, it is highlighted above the altarpiece the epigraph: «PURPUREOS FONTES ODIUM RESERAVIT ADOXUM NUNC IN CHRISTALLOS HIC TIBI VERTIT AMOR», translated by: «Fountains have opened the bitter hatred, for you now love here converts them into crystals. »