Orig­i­nal­ly designed as a mon­u­ment sym­bol­iz­ing the Recon­quest, the Con­vent of the Knights Tem­plar of Tomar (trans­ferred in 1344 to the Knights of the Order of Christ) came to sym­bol­ize just the oppo­site dur­ing the Manue­line peri­od — the open­ing up of Por­tu­gal to oth­er civ­i­liza­tions.