Chaves Municipality, Portugal - Architecture - Religious

Religious

• Church of Santa Maria Maior - Santa Maria Maior, or the Matriz Church is historical cathedral (long since decommissioned when the bishopric was transferred to Vila Real); in 716, during the Moorish invasion, there was no longer a bishopric in Chaves. Its construction dates to the year 1100, the church is a Romanesque design consisting of a main nave and bell tower. During 16th century, renovations were completed in the Renaissance-style, which completely modified the church (it was restored in 1968). Today, it conserves its Romanesque-style solid granite blocks and austere facade, broken only by the side door of elegant proportions (with busts of Saint Peter and Saint Paul), while a statue of Santa Maria Maior is located on a wall to the rear of the temple. The interior, consists of three naves separated by four cylindrical columns, with eight arches; a stone-ribbed dome covering the main chapel; austere walls; stained glass; and an unpainted oak ceiling supporting the roof.
• Church of Madalena - located on the left bank of the Tâmega River, the Church of São João de Deus dates from the 18th century, built during the reign of King John VI, who maintained it (his coat-of-arms appears on the main door), it was originally constructed as a chapel for the military hospital (located next to the temple). The church includes neoclassic and baroque elements, including a very high façade, making it difficult to view from the narrow street.
• Church of the Misericórdia - built in 17th century, the Baroque church was the main chapel of the Dukes of Bragança: a relatively small temple with the four façade Greek columns, mythological sculptures, and surmounted by Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia (Portuguese: Our Lady of Mercy) looking down on ten figures (and covering them with her mantle). The interior is totally covered in blue-and-white azulejo tiles from the 18th century, depicting figures and biblical scenes, and its wooden ceiling is painted in bright colours representing the scene of the Visitation, painted by Jerónimo Rocha Braga (1743). The wooden altarpiece (Portuguese: retábulo) is decorated with cherubs, bunches of grapes, and spiral shells in the Manueline-style decoration.
• Chapel of São Caetano - located 7 km from the municipal Chaves, it was constructed in honour of Saint Cajetan, a Theatine orator of the Catholic Church during the Counter Reformation. The local community celebrate festivals on 7 August, when seven images of the saint are carried by the faithful in popular religious processions. The saint is sought, for granting supplications, as mundane as getting better grades at school or a good crop (in this agricultural community).
• Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Aparecida - in the village of Calvão, it was constructed on the site of a Marian apparition in 1833, when three shepherd children (similar to the events in Fátima) witnessed the Virgin Mary.
• Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Engaranho - located in Castelões (15 km from Chaves), an uncommon invocation to the image of Mary, responsible for aiding those with diseased-, crooked- or crossed-legs, or afflictions associated with walking. Families and young children commonly visit the chapel, requiring a ritualized washing in a small grottoe, located next to the chapel.