Aldeias Históricas de Portugal

Villages

São Vicente Church

Castelo Mendo

Castelo Mendo

The construction of the São Vicente Church, or the Church of Mercy, dates back to the 13th century. The Romanesque church has been expanded and restored over the centuries. Located in the second intramural centre, it has been a parish since the reign of King Dinis, a time that coincided with the construction of the second wall. Mannerist-influenced, it features a bell tower, depicted in drawings by Duarte de Armas from 1510. It has preserved its mullioned windows (window with a column dividing it into two parts). The portals correspond to a 17th century remodelling, to which a side chapel also belongs, that of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (1684), built to serve as a tomb for Manuel Sarinho de Brito. Inside is a an alfarge ceiling of wood, with beams supported by ashlar corbels. Several ancient tombstones are located in the interior floor of this church and it also contains a baptismal font in the shape of a chalice with buds. The carved altarpieces were placed here between the end of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century. In 1758, the parish constituted a deanery of the Convent of São Vicente de Fora of Lisbon, having been extinguished in 1834.