Igreja de Santa Maria (Sintra): A Gothic Parish Church in Portugal
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Portugal
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Portuguese
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page11 sections
History
Igreja de Santa Maria is a Roman Catholic parish church in Sintra, Portugal, originally built as the parish church serving the town’s principal suburb. It was established in the second half of the twelfth century during Afonso I of Portugal’s Christian conquest of Sintra and the creation of four parishes there. The church is regarded as the principal surviving Gothic building in Sintra.
Foundation and Collegiate Institution
The first church was a small building erected after Afonso I, also known as Afonso Henriques, took control of Sintra. In 1254, under Prior Lourenço Anes, a collegiate institution was established at Santa Maria. This was a body of clergy organized to serve a church under a prior rather than under a bishop as a cathedral chapter.
The church was completely rebuilt in the late thirteenth century or, more probably, in the mid-fourteenth century. This rebuilding gave the structure most of its present general appearance and adapted mendicant Gothic, a comparatively restrained Gothic tradition associated with religious orders supported by communal aid, to the needs of a medieval parish church.
Medieval and Manueline Alterations
In 1440, Luís Pires, chaplain to Afonso V of Portugal, renovated the chancel, the part of the church surrounding the main altar. A more extensive reform began in 1506 under D. João Lopo, Bishop of Tangier and vicar of Santa Maria. Work continued until 1521 and included a raised choir at the entrance, changes to the Gothic portals, and a wooden ceiling bearing the arms of the queen whose household owned the church.
The sixteenth-century work also introduced altars decorated with Hispano-Arabic tiles, ceramic tiles shaped by Iberian traditions influenced by Islamic art. The ceiling was later lost, although some of the tile decoration remains inside the church. During the Manueline period, a Portuguese architectural and decorative style of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, the main portal and south lateral portal were further altered with elaborate canopy arches.
Earthquake Damage and Modern Restoration
The collegiate institution was dissolved after 1640. The earthquake of 1755 severely damaged the church, and Prior Sebastião Nunes Borges directed a renovation carried out between 1757 and 1760. The work altered the façades, redecorated the interior, added a crowning element with volutes to the main façade, replaced the earlier rose window with a Baroque window, and inserted large windows into the lateral walls of the aisles.
Further restoration took place during the twentieth century, including a reform in the 1930s. Many later altars were removed in an effort to recover the building’s perceived original purity. Igreja de Santa Maria has been classified as a Portuguese National Monument since 1922 and forms part of the Cultural Landscape of Sintra, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995. The church is owned by the Portuguese state and remains a Roman Catholic parish church under the Archdiocese of Lisbon.
Remains
Igreja de Santa Maria has a three-aisled, stepped plan. The central nave rises above the lateral aisles, which are divided from it by arcades of pointed arches. The surviving arrangement expresses the church’s Gothic rebuilding and its adaptation of mendicant architectural ideas to parish use. The chancel occupies two bays, ends in a polygonal form, and has a rib-vaulted ceiling with large Gothic windows.
Gothic Structure and Portals
Main Façade
The main façade is organized around a pointed-arch portal with several archivolts, successive moulded bands following the curve of an arch, and a gable, the pointed triangular feature above the entrance. The portal has two openings separated by a slender mullion, a vertical member dividing an opening. A rose window is believed to have stood above the portal before being replaced by the Baroque window installed during the eighteenth-century renovation. The façade’s later crowning element has volutes.
Chancel and Lateral Portals
The Gothic character continues in the lateral portals and in the outer structure of the chancel. Buttresses reinforce the chancel, while decorated corbels, projecting stone supports, contribute to its exterior detailing. The main portal and the south lateral portal received elaborate canopy arches during the Manueline alterations.
Bell Tower and Interior Decoration
Bell Tower
The bell tower stands on the south side of the main façade. Its bronze bell was cast in 1468, a date preserved by an inscription in Carolingian-Gothic lettering on the bell itself.
Tiles and Interior
The interior formerly held numerous altars, many of which were removed during the 1930s restoration. Some of the earlier polychrome Hispano-Arabic tile decoration survives within the church, preserving part of the decorative program associated with the reforms of the early sixteenth century.
