ALCOBACA, a town of Portugal, in the district of Leiria, Pop. Alcobaca is chiefly interesting for its Cis tercian convent, now partly converted into schools and ba racks. The monastic buildings, a square, 7 2 5 f t. across, were founded in 1 148 and completed in 1222. During the middle ages it rivalled the greatest European abbeys in size and wealth. It was supplied with water by an affluent of the Alcoa, which still flows through the kitchen. The convent was partly burned by the French in 181 o, secularized in 1834, and afterwards gradually restored. Portions of the library are now preserved in the public libraries of Lisbon and Braga. The monastic church 2 2) is a good example of early Gothic, somewhat defaced by Moorish and other ad ditions.