Pelourinho de Alvalade
The Pelourinho de Alvalade, built in the sixteenth century, “is not an artistic piece, like many others, it merely consists of a limestone shaft, surmounted by a small truncated cone. It is situated at the NE angle of the old Town Hall building, today the official school, and sits on a 2.08-m-high base, with the 0.94-m shaft and a 0.64-m cone, making a total height of 3.66 m” (Father Jorge de Oliveira, Nossa Terra, no. 18, 13 March 1932). During the 1755 earthquake, it suffered extensive damage, as a result of which it lost some of its decoration.
The surviving parts were reassembled later, on a large square plinth, and in the mid-twentieth century it was dismantled, and the parts stored. In the early twenty-first century it was reconstructed and mounted in the centre of the square. It was classified as a Property of Public Interest by decree of 1933.
“Casa dos Magistrados de Alvalade”
The “Casa dos Magistrados” was the place where the local legal body possibly resided, which in the year 1708 consisted of two sitting judges, assisted by their respective clerks. As a dis tinctive feature of the main façade, the building had a coat of arms bearing the royal crown, which was destroyed by its owners, but can still be seen in old photographs from the twentieth century.
The “Casa dos Magistrados” is located at Rua de S. Pedro, no. 2, 4.
Former Town Hall of Alvalade
The date of construction of the former Town Hall is unknown, but it is known that in the first decades of the nineteenth century, the building was the scene of many important occasions in the municipal life of Alvalade, such as the acclamation of Queen Maria II in June 1833, or the rejection of the same Queen in favour of D. Miguel in August 1833, during the struggle between the Liberals and the Absolutists.
With the abolition of the County of Alvalade, in November 1836, the building changed its function, later being transformed into an official school of primary education. This is located in Praça D. Manuel I, facing the old church of Misericórdia, and is currently assigned to the parish of Alvalade.
It is a building with simple lines and a single upper floor. The prison was located on the ground floor, the barred windows of which could still be seen in the 1st half of the twentieth century.
Chafariz da Rua Aldegalega
The small fountain dates from 1921 and constitutes interesting evidence of the public system for supplying water to the population.
Its construction employs an array of interesting neoclassical architectural elements: a round arch resting on pilasters, an attic followed by a triangular gable (which is inscribed with the date 1921), two side panels and two rough fins.
Chafariz do Largo 1º de Maio
The fountain is located in the centre of a large, octagonal, peripteral building, which is defined by walls with benches, wide passages and colonnade with architraves, without bases or capitals.
It has the shape of a vertical pattern in stone, of quadrangular design, decorated on all four sides by the following panels and panelling: a panel with flowers and foliage, in a modernist style; a panel with the same theme; panelling with the old coat of arms of the county, the initials CMSC, the name of the village (Ermidas-Gare) and a small panel with the tap; panelled with the caption “Work of the New State 1943”. Its base, in turn, forms a cruciform assembly, with two stone benches with rounded corners, and two sinks in the form of semicircles. The drinking fountain is owned by the municipality.
Pelourinho
The Pillory of Santiago do Cacém was built between 1844 and 1845, and replaced the old pillory from the reign of D. João V, partially destroyed by the 1755 earthquake; the works on the Old Hospital in 1899 destroyed what remained. The current Pelourinho de Santiago “resulted from an order that the City Council made to the mason José Miguel Rodrigues (…) the work was completed and the structure was mounted in the centre of the Praça Conde do Bracial square. The structure of the new mark of municipal power rests on three orders of steps followed by a rectangular plinth – bearing the date 1845 – and an octagonal shaft that extends from a flat capital, surmounted by a globe divided into several meridians, which ends with an iron cross of the Order of Santiago”. It is classified as a Property of Public Interest.
Clock Tower – Santiago do Cacém
The tower was built between 1667 and 1687 and was designed to receive the clock that was in one of the towers that served as angle pieces for the houses of the commander of the castle and which, in accordance with the state of repair of the structures of the castle itself, were in danger of collapsing.
With the earthquake of 1755, the structure suffered some damage, a fact that was repeated with the 1858 earthquake, which caused quite a lot of damage in Santiago do Cacém.
The exterior of the curious tower, adjoining the old houses of the chamber, is of the late Mannerist architectural style, characterized by cornerstones and rusticated gateways and an unbalanced vertical structure.
Its interior is guided by a staircase arranged around a square central well – designed for the clock weights – which then connects to different levels until the interior of the spire covered with a dome vault.
Sociedade Harmonia – Santiago do Cacém
The Sociedade Harmonia was founded, among others, by Augustine de Vilhena, by his brothers (Francisco and Joaquim), by Cipiriano de Oliveira and by José Beja da Costa, and the first facility was opened in a building located in Largo Alexandre Herculano – formerly Largo do Barreiro – on 1 December 1847. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Sociedade Harmonia moved to the current site, although the date of this historical fact is not universally agreed upon among scholars.
However, the most widely quoted reference appears to be a description from the “Meróbriga” newspaper (18/6/1922), which pompously refers to the laying of the foundation stone on 1 December 1863 and the inauguration of the building in the year 1865, with the construction of the theatre occurring later, in 1875.
The outside of the building was notable due to its front consisting of two different architectural bodies – highlighted by a cartouche alluding to the foundation of the theatre, by a balustrade with its urns and ceramic vases and by the lighting oculus featuring a striped frame and centred on the head of a lion – and the right side view, with its glass doors and its long terrace, enclosed by an elegant railing of cast iron. Inside, the ashlar azulejo tilework of the corridor stood out, produced in the nineteenth century, and the aged “Hall of Mirrors”, a room decorated with panelling and mirrors of various sizes, lion heads and garlands of flowers, in clear classic style.
Palace and Walled Vineyard of the Condes de Avillez – Santiago do Cacém
The palace was constructed in the second half of the nineteenth century, probably under the guidance of the 2nd Count of Avilez, Jorge de Avilez Jusarte de Sousa Tavares (28-V-1817), or to the taste of his son Jorge de Avilez Salema Jusarte (31-1-1842 / 4-12-1901).
The façade of the building, the most interesting side of the architectural ensemble, provides a division into two separate registers, the first differing due to having multiple windows and doors spaced around a vertical central body (the verticalist space of the main door), while the second stands out for having several bay windows, with cast iron railings. The ensemble ends with a running platband, interrupted by a curved pediment where the stone arms of the Condes de Avilez can be seen.
The walled vineyard of the palace, a perimeter fence between the castle barbican and the rear of the palace, was transformed, in turn, into a place for leisure and spiritual retreat, an environment that led to the creation of three interesting architectural specimens: a tiny Swiss chalet (the “Casa de Chá” – “Tea House”), a revivalist and eclectic chapel and a curious triangular building, called the “Estufa” (“Greenhouse”).
The Swiss chalet, of extremely small dimensions, was built in the 1920s/30s by Jorge Ribeiro de Sousa – the godson and heir of the widow of the 3rd count – and received a three-lobed plant and a Manueline portal taken from the ruins of the castle, while it was paired with the construction of the “Estufa”, which was based on an equilateral triangular plan. The private chapel, built in 1902 and dedicated to the patron S. Jorge, sought to create the image of a small cathedral, with its tall towers and ogive portal, to which was added the capital from a sculptural ensemble emblazoned with the arms of the Condes de Avilez.
Palácio da Carreira
The Palácio da Carreira, built in the late eighteenth century, is one of the most characteristic late-Baroque manor houses in the Alentejo, and is notable both for its dimensions and the exuberant decoration of its façades and interiors.
The architectural ensemble, which includes the palace and gardens and attached patios, forms part of one of the richest collections of nineteenth-century azulejo tilework in the country. Inside, azulejo tilework panels are added to painted murals, combining the eclectic taste characteristic of the reign of Queen Maria I with clearly neoclassical compositions, here replacing the late Baroque.
Among the azulejo tilework, panels by the painter Luís Ferreira, known as “Ferreira das Tabuletas” (Ferreira of the Tablets) should be mentioned, possibly made in the Fábrica de Cerâmica da Viúva Lamego, in Lisbon. Classified as a Monument of Public Interest.
Casa Lobo de Vasconcellos
Located in the Historic Center of the city is known by the designations: House of Santiago, House of the Prior, Former House of the Collegiate or Former House of the Prior Bonifácio Gomes de Carvalho.
Seventeenth-century noble house, although its current configuration stems from reconstruction after being damaged following the earthquake of 1755.
