The Monks Kitchen in the Cork Convent

Founded in the 16th century (1560), "the Convent of the Frairs Minor Capuchin, popularly known as the Convent of the Capuchos (Portuguese: Convento dos Capuchos), but officially the Convento de Santa Cruz da Serra da Sintra (Convent of the Holy Cross of the Sintra Mountains), is a historical convent consisting of small quarters and public spaces located in the civil parish of São Pedro de Penaferrim, in the municipality of Sintra. Its creation was associated with the Portuguese Viceroy of India, D. João de Castro, and his family, but became a pious community of reclusive clergy that continued to occupy cramp humble spaces in the complex, until the religious orders were abolished in Portugal."
Poverty was the central notion which ruled the construction of the Convent of the Capuchos. The whole building is small. Its windows and doors are coated with cork, the traditional material of Portugal, the last being smaller than a man's height, to induce genuflection. Decoration is scarce and minimal. After visiting the convent in 1581, Philip I of Portugal said "Of all my kingdoms, there are two places I estimate especially, El Escorial for being so rich, and the Convent of the Holy Cross for being so poor."
Source: Wikipedia
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