Alcobaça is a municipality in the district of Leiria.
It is located in the valleys of the Alcoa and Baça rivers, which are believed by some authors to have given the city its name.
Other interpretations suggest an Arabic origin that later split into the names of the two rivers.
Alcobaça owes its fame and development to the Monastery of Santa Maria, founded in 1153 by the Cistercian Order.
Construction began in 1178 on land donated by King Afonso Henriques to Friar Bernard of Clairvaux, founder of the Cistercian Order.
This act fulfilled a vow made after the Christian Reconquest of Santarém in 1147.
The monastery controlled a vast territory known as the “lands of Alcobaça”, where the Cistercians organized settlement and agriculture.
New farming techniques were introduced, making the region one of Portugal’s main fruit producers.
The Alcobaça Monastery, inspired by the Abbey of Clairvaux in France, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Local gastronomy was strongly influenced by the Cistercian monasteries, giving rise to conventual sweets.
The most famous is the Alfeizerão sponge cake.