Parish Church of Abela
Construction began in November 1901 as the fulfilment of an electoral promise made by one of the dignitaries of Santiago do Cacém, although the construction works were interrupted soon after the establishment of the Republic (1911), and only resumed in the 1960s/70s, when it was finished. According to some, the construction began due to the action of the counts of Avilez, its layout being attributed to Augusto Fuschini (1843-19?), deputy for Santiago do Cacém at the end nineteenth century and one of the main romantic restorers of Lisbon Cathedral.
The essential highlights of the church are its main façade, its loftiness and grandeur, with its tower pointing to the sky, its gateway, its oculus, its double windows and their apertures. The interior is very wide but at the same time very simple, with decoration in polychrome azulejo tilework of new seventeenth-century style.
Mother Church of Alvalade
The mother church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição dates from the late fifteenth century or early sixteenth century, and is Manueline in style.
The outside of this building stands out for its strong bell tower, ogive window illuminating the upper chancel, the Manueline gateway surmounted by a crocket, the old stone of the arms of the municipality and its polygonal apse, with buttresses and original tapered merlons. Inside the Manueline crossing, the vaulted chancel and the gilded altarpiece of the eighteenth century are worthy of mention. Classified as a Monument of Public Interest.
Church of Misericórdia of Alvalade
The church of Misericórdia was built in 1570, probably with the money or income left through the patronage of a devotee named Fructuoso Pires, who is buried inside. With the move to the municipality of Aljustrel, after 1855, the Misericórdia was declared closed, according to the charter of the Civil Government of Beja, dated 4 August 1861.
Boasting Mannerist lines and a single nave, the outside of the building is notable for its façade facing the main square (where two inscriptions can be seen, one of which refers to a passage from the Old Testament and the other bearing the date 1570) and also due to their architectural features: buttresses, a platband of merlons and a hemispherical dome with lantern. The inside is notable only for its mannerist crossing, chancel and the grave of the patron of its construction, Fructuoso Pires.
Capela Nova de Nossa Sr.ª do Roxo
This chapel was built around the second half of the twentieth century by Manuel Mendes Colaço, then owner of the Roxo estate. It has a single nave, a baptismal font and is lined by an ashlar of azulejo tilework featuring Christian and allegorical symbols, in addition to a side panel with the Holy Family and another central panel with an image of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, to whom it appears to be dedicated.
It also has, on the main façade, masonry from the old chapel of Nossa Senhora do Roxo, notably Manueline steles with different crosses of the Order of Santiago, a Manueline keystone brick in the triangular pediment and, next to the doorway, a rectangular Visigothic panel, dating from the seventh century, featuring geometric decoration. In another house on the hill of the estate there is the gravestone of João da Silva, his wife and his heirs, which serve as a door sill.
It is located on the hill of the Roxo estate.
Mother Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição
The exact origins of the founding of the mother church are not known – which at the time would have been called Santa Maria – although it is known that the current building dates from the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, the temple received some improvements, namely the vault of the nave was painted with a representation of Nossa Senhora da Conceição in 1889 by a painter from Setúbal, F A Flamengo.
The exterior architecture highlights the main façade with its stone gateway – where the cross of the Order of Santiago may be observed – and the high bell tower, with its interesting weathervane. Inside, particularly worthy of note are the single, barrel-vaulted nave, the side altars with their images, the baptistery with its Pombaline, Rococo-style azulejo tilework and the Johannine main altarpiece, where the only ancient image in the entire municipality of the apostle Santiago can be found.
Ermida da Fonte Santa or Bica Santa
The origins of the chapel of Fonte Santa or Santa Bica lie in a seventeenth-century legend, which refers to the appearance of the Virgin to some shepherd boys who were thirsty and had called for her. Subsequently, the Virgin brought forth a spring of water from a stone and left her footprint on it.
The spring water was thus considered miraculous. Initially, only an oratory, with a niche and pediment, was built, and a tank to bathe men and animals.
As pilgrimages to the site, on 15 April, intensified, construction work was gradually carried out, leading to the small shrine or chapel. Currently, the footprint is not visible, but it is situated at the source of the water springs.
Church of Ermidas
Following the growth of the village and after it became a parish in 1953, there was a need to provide an appropriate temple for the resident population: thus, in March 1956, the parish church of Ermidas-Sado, fruit of the patronage of the Sociedade Industrial and Alentejo Sado, Lda, was erected.
A simple and unpretentious building, the church was dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Conceição, based on a model of a small temple, with a porch on the main façade and the body with a single nave, an example quite common in Portuguese architecture of the 1950s.
Church of Santa Cruz
This church already existed in the first quarter of the sixteenth century, but suffered the devastating consequences of the 1755 earthquake and the 1858 earthquake, an event that left it badly damaged and led to its typology being changed and forced the residents of the parish to attend Mass in the destroyed church of Nossa Senhora do Monte, in Santiago do Cacém.
Inside some eighteenth-century images of good quality can be seen – such as the baby Jesus from the eighteenth century, of great popular affection – the magnificent nineteenth-century plasterwork of the dome of the chancel and the excellent Christ crucified in the high altar, a stone carving from the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century – which bears the name of the patron saint – made by a Portuguese sculptor who worked in the Nordic style or a Nordic, possibly Flemish, sculptor who worked in Portugal during the age of the Discoveries.
Mother Church of Santiago do Cacém
Most current authors say that the temple was built by the knights of the Order of Santiago during the thirteenth century, eliminating the hypothesis of the ancient authors that attributed its foundation to the pagans – Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans – which was claimed due to the iconography featured on the archways of the naves.
In the first half of the fourteenth century, the temple was probably upgraded at the expense of Dona Vataça Lascaris, a Byzantine donor who held the commendation of Santiago do Cacém between 1310 and 1336. In 1530, during the commandery of Alonso Peres Pantoja, the temple underwent major work. However, after a few centuries, the church was again the subject of two new interventions: one occurred in 1704, in the time of D. Pedro II, and the other between 1796 and 1830, the latter due to the 1755 earthquake. The intervention changed the orientation of the church – the entrance was moved to the place where the chancel stood – and its dimensions.
In the late nineteenth century, specifically in 1895, the church was the scene of a fire, which caused some damage, being followed by another in 1912, which led to the transfer of the parish to the church of Misericórdia. In 1933, the Archdeacon António Rebelo dos Anjos, taking precautions against future destruction and fires, order the renovation of the interior – especially the chancel and side altars – and the outside of the church.
The exterior of the building stands out for its impressive late Baroque lines, led by a vertical orientation favouring the external marking of the three naves, and the busy pediment, of a strongly scenic nature – with references to the attributes of the apostle Santiago. The south side elevation is dominated by a Gothic gateway dating from the thirteenth/fourteenth centuries, called the Porta do Sol, where depictions of animals and plants predominate.
Inside, the Manueline vaults of the old chancel and the trancepts or ogives can be seen, with their hermetic Christian iconography. Alongside these elements, the side altars, the seventeenth-century azulejo tilework and the famous gothic high relief depicting Santiago fighting the Moors, a sculpture dating from the fourteenth century, most likely offered by Dona Vataça Lascaris, can also be seen.
The church has been classified as a National Monument since 1910. The General Directorate for National Buildings and Monuments has, in recent years, benefited this church with successive conservation and restoration works.
It was the desire to put centuries-old assets on show, intertwining with the history of the mother church, that led the City Council and the Diocese of Beja to join forces to organize the museum of the Treasury of the Chapterhouse, which opened its doors to the public on 25 July 2002.
Opening hours: April to September from 10.00 am to 12.30 pm and from 2.30 pm to 6.00 pm – October to March 10.00 am to 12.30 pm and from 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm.
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays, Easter, Christmas and New Year
Church of Misericórdia of Santiago do Cacém
Most historians state that the church was built in the late fifteenth century or at the beginning of the sixteenth century – when the Manueline style was taking hold. However, one of the local researchers added, in their work Santa Casa da Misericordia de Santiago do Cacém that it was the Estaço family, specifically João Estaço, who founded it, although he was not alone but in the company of other families in the village.
In 1678, the temple underwent its first rebuilding at the hand of Cristovão de Brito Varela – as per the inscription on one of the flying buttresses, followed by another, after the earthquake of 1755, at the hand of Miguel Inácio Falcão Beja who, for the purpose, committed all of his assets. In 1895, the church caught fire; however, that fact did not bring about significant changes to the temple.
Across the whole of its front, where once was situated the old Manueline chancel, which was inverted during the eighteenth-century reconstruction, the high portal and Baroque picture window – in whose lintel was placed a medallion with the five wounds of Christ – are of particular note, along with the long and wide access staircase, paved with various fragments of tombstones. Elsewhere, specifically on the left side elevation, three interesting flying buttresses were built, two of which serve as a frame for a small Manueline portal, without forgetting the exterior of the chancel, where a Manueline lintel that survived the earthquake can also be seen. Classified as a Monument of Public Interest.
Chapel of São Pedro
This temple was built in the sixteenth century. The date of commencement of the building works is unknown, as is the name of its founder, the reconstructions or the reasons that led to its construction. It is based on a model characterized by the juxtaposition of two distinctive architectural modules: the galilee or narthex and the chapel.
The galilee or narthex – a gallery with arches annexed to the main façade – served in earlier times to support the pilgrims during the processions and festivities in honour of São Pedro. In turn, the chapel – burned down in 1895 – has very simple lines, with a stone gateway and oculus in the pediment, defining a single vaulted nave and a chevet composed of the sacristy and chancel, the latter with a domed roof.
Inside, a record of John Paul II in azulejo tilework from the nineteen eighties, and the image of the patron saint, a São Pedro from the eighteenth century, can be seen.
Chapel das Almas
The temple was founded in 1630 by the priest Sebastião de Matos, a pastor from Santo André and professed member of the Order of Santiago. Its front has a slightly vertical orientation, with a rectangular frame surrounding an undecorated portal. This is followed by a window illuminating the upper chancel and an interrupted angular pediment, where two urns and a clock tower were placed.
Inside there is the shallow grave of the grantee Manuel de Oliveira Bello, dated 1742, benefactor of the Confraria das Almas (Brotherhood of Souls), and the altarpiece of the chancel, a polychrome and gilt work from the second half of the eighteenth century. In this altarpiece the image of a great crucified Christ can be seen, placed in the centre of the podium, in some documents called Senhor do Bonfim, and also images of Santa Bárbara and Santo Estevão.
Chapterhouse and Gateway
Located at Rua Padre António Macedo, the building was purchased and rebuilt by the chapterhouse of the mother church of Santiago do Cacém – consisting of six professed grantees of the Order of Santiago – to house beneficiary friars and to host a small seminar, a circumstance which, according to the date of the portal lintel, appears to have occurred in 1733. On the outside the building the excellent and stripped down portal stands out, with the lintel bearing an abbreviated epigraph – still undeciphered, but probably related to the establishment of the new chapterhouse – DBFDP 1733, and the cartouche in relief bearing a cross of the Order of Santiago, a mark of ownership of the building. Inside the dwelling there are two Gothic ogives, indicating an old medieval building. Furthermore, a tower adjoining the building was recently discovered, probably dating from the seventeenth century, which evidences the strong influence of military architecture. Inside there is a huge engraved cartouche, decorated with ovoid and lozenge shapes and a niche with the cross of the Order of Santiago.
Loreto Convent
The convent of Loreto was founded, according to some authors, in the middle of the fifteenth century, although others mention that the foundation took place in the early sixteenth century, where there was already a hermitage dedicated to Our Lady of Loreto.
However, what is verified is that its founder was D. Catarina de Noronha – died in 1490 – wife of Pedro Pantoja, commander and mayor of Santiago do Cacém and donated the commendation of Tavira.
In the reign of D. Manuel, the convent was subjected to great works of improvement or reconstruction, as evidenced by the many and rich vestiges of the Manueline stonework that today are deposited in the Archaeological Museum of Sines. The house was destined to receive a community that included up to a maximum of 12 Franciscan friars, having the convent church of a single nave and four side chapels, where venerated images of great quality. In 1834, the convent was extinguished and property sold to private individuals. It is currently in ruins.
Chapel of São Sebastião
The chapel of São Sebastião was built in the sixteenth century, having the main architectural features of a single nave, a sacristy adjoining the chancel and the hemispherical dome on the roof of the ousia. With the earthquake of 1755, the chapel was ruined and was not rebuilt for years due to its low revenue. In the twentieth century, it underwent restoration and reconstruction works, which, above all, led to the current layout of the façade.
Its location – given that it stands on a hill outside the city – is definitely due to the need to ensure effective protection against the plagues that raged across Portugal in cycles and also affected this region.
Chapel of São Brás
The chapel probably dates back to thirteenth/fourteenth centuries, although the current features are typical of the sixteenth century. In its layout, the chapel shows the remnants of what would have been a galilee (porch) to receive pilgrims and devotees coming to São Brás, its stone portal, right side façade with its buttresses and door transom, the single nave, the sacristy and the chancel, boasting a sixteenth-century hemispherical dome, being particular highlights.
Of its treasures, there remains a truncated image of São Brás, dating from the thirteenth/fourteenth century and deposited in the Municipal Museum.
The chapel forms part of the Roman ruins of Miróbriga, classified as a Property of Public Interest since 1940.
Oratorios of the Passion Steps
There were possibly seven oratories that marked the procession of Senhor dos Passos in Santiago do Cacém, although only five were mentioned in the year 1742, of which currently only two remain. These – located at the end of Rua Padre António de Macedo e Silva (attached to the wall of a backyard) and at the end of Rua Dr. Francisco Beja da Costa – present, respectively, an altar in brick and masonry, followed by a frame (Where there were seventeenth-century paintings alluding to scenes of the Passion), topped by a tablet cruise or just a frame framed and centered by a cross. Outside the main church, on the south side, you can also find a cross of tablet that, like the two oratories, was also part of the route.
Church of São Bartolomeu
Founded a long time ago, the church of the village of São Bartolomeu da Serra today exhibits eighteenth-century features, of which the bell tower and the right side elevation, with its doors and apertures, are particular highlights.
Inside, there is the shallow grave of the priest André Luís Beltrão, friar of the habit of Santiago, who died in 1649, the crossing arch with its medieval iconography (a scallop and a religious habit cord), a set of figures mostly dating from the eighteenth century and spread around the many side altars, and the interesting altarpiece of the chancel, executed in the year 1791 at the behest of the parish priest José da Silva Frias and captain of the parish company, Manuel Gonçalves Serrão.
However, the mark of greatest antiquity of the temple is precisely the primitive image of the patron saint – São Bartolomeu – which was made in limestone (fourteenth century) and is currently in the rectory of Santiago do Cacém.
Between 1848 and 1857, the parish priest was Father António de Macedo e Silva, author of the important work Annaes do Município (Municipal Annals) of Santiago de Cacém.
Church of São Domingos
Considered a temple of the rural Manueline style, the main portal and the window illuminating the upper chancel (both featuring undecorated ogive) still bear the hallmarks of the Gothic style. With the 1755 earthquake, the church suffered quite a lot of damage and took many years to recover, facts known today thanks to the detailed descriptions of the then parish priest.
Its contents include countless images from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a Manueline font of holy water, the side altars dating from the eighteenth century, the rococo reliefs on the body of the pulpit and the interesting altarpiece in the chancel, possibly painted in the year 1765 by João Filipe da Fonseca, of Vila Nova da Baronia, also exhibiting a prolific rococo style.
Parish Church of São Francisco
The church of São Francisco da Serra is a building with a single nave, its construction probably dating back to the first quarter of the sixteenth century. However, its great wealth lies in the frescos from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which may be observed, respectively, in the oratory of the high altar, with themes related to the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament – angels with censers, in sixteenth-century-style dress, adore the Blessed Sacrament – and in an external room, where a set of images that form part of the theme of the genealogy of Christ, in this case a depiction of the Tree of Jesse.
Inside two individuals are buried who died in the eighteenth century: Father Diogo Dias Simões, professed member of the Order of Santiago, and José Dias Ramos, who left the church 173,000 réis, to pay for oil for the lamps that illuminated the Blessed Sacrament.
Parish Church of Santo André
The parish church of Santo André is confirmed to have been in existence at least since the first quarter of the sixteenth century, when the Manueline style was being reflected in national buildings and left its mark on almost all temples of the country: accordingly, the old Chapel of Santo André did not escape this rule either.
In the second half of the eighteenth century, the church had three altars (Santo André, Nossa Senhora do Rosário and São Geraldo) and two brotherhoods, the Rosário and the Almas. Between 1815 and 1839, the temple was rebuilt due to the destruction caused by the 1755 earthquake, and it suffered further damage during the 1858 earthquake.
Its exterior architecture includes the main façade, with its bell tower and its late Baroque pediment, and, inside, the portal of the baptistery – a Manueline piece bearing the coat of arms of the Order of Santiago and the cross of St. Andrew, and altarpiece of the high altar, of late-rococo influence, are of particular note.
Church and fountain of Nossa Senhora da Graça
The church of Nossa Senhora da Graça was erected in the mid-eighteenth century, close to a place that had a water source considered miraculous. Its exterior architecture includes a galilee and pediment pointed towards the sky, while inside from its single nave a magnificent set of rococo style azulejo tilework can be seen depicting scenes from the Annunciation and the creation of Adam by God the Father, which can be attributed to the workshop of the painter Francisco Jorge da Costa. The polychrome altarpiece of the chancel and the excellent image of the Senhora da Graça, dating from the eighteenth century, are other important treasures of the church.
The fountain of Nossa Senhora da Graça dates from the same time as the construction of the church, having been built in masonry and stonework, its work destined to perpetuate and glorify the medicinal virtues of the spring water. Classified as a Monument of Historical Interest and bounded by a Special Protection Area.
Church of Vale de Água
Dedicated to the thaumaturge Santo António, the church was founded on 13 May 1989, with the mortuary chapel having been added in late 1996/early 1997. This was done based on a design by municipal architect João de Sousa.
With a plan in the form of a Latin cross, it shows the particularity of the mortuary chapel and respective rooms adjoining the chancel, allowing the chevet to be turned into a radiant architectural feature (composed of the apse and two small apses).
