Porches

The Fort of Nossa Senhora da Rocha (also known as the Fort of Our Lady of the Rock or Castle of Porches) is a medieval castle situated in the civil parish of Porches, in the municipality of Lagoa in Portuguese Algarve. Inside the fort is the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Rocha, of uncertain date. History Doubt continues to exist as to the origin of the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Rocha, as well as the original fort that existed on this site. The privileged location on a promontory reflects the impor…

The Silves Cathedral (Portuguese: Sé Catedral de Silves) is a former cathedral in the city of Silves, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. A mosque, built during the Moorish rule of the Iberian Peninsula, was originally located in its current place, and was later mostly restructured and converted into a Catholic cathedral after the Reconquista. Although having some Baroque characteristics, it is mostly Gothic in nature and it is considered to be the main Gothic monument in the Algarve and…

The Church of Our Lady of the Incarnation (or the Parochial Church of Porches) is a church situated in the civil parish of Porches, in the municipality of Lagoa in the Portuguese region of Algarve. History Founded in the 16th century, the church retains a few vestiges of its early history. Only the chancel remains of the original church, which was later ruined by the 1755 earthquake. It was sometime during the 18th century that azulejo tile was installed in the main nave. A portion of the older …

The Fort of Our Lady of the Incarnation (Portuguese: Forte de Nossa Senhora da Encarnação) is a small fortification in the civil parish of Carvoeiro, municipality of Lagoa, in Portuguese Algarve. History In 1670, construction began on the fortress of Carvoeiro (alternately Our Lady of the Incarnation) under the orders of the Algarvean Governor Nuno de Mendoça, Count of Vale dos Reis. It was completed during the tenure of his successor, the Count of Pontevel, Nuno da Cunha de Ataíde, in 1675. The…

The Castle of Alcantarilha is a medieval fortress and its remnant walls in Portugal, in the civil parish of Alcantarilha, municipality of Silves, in the Portuguese Algarve region of southwestern Iberia. It is a little-known monument, now in ruins, used for the protection of the people of the village and surrounding area from attacks by north African pirates. History The ancient fortification had its base in a Lusitanian castro settlement, that likely existed between the Neolithic to Chalcolithic…

The Convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Portuguese: Convento da Nossa Senhora do Carmo; which was in fact referred to as the Convent of Our Lady of Help/Aid (Portuguese: Convento da Nossa Senhora do Socorro)) is a medieval carmelite convent and church complex in the civil parish of Lagoa in the municipality of Lagoa in the Portuguese Algarve. The original convent was all but destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. After the extinction of the religious orders in Portugal in 1834, the property w…