In this event we'll take a guided tour of the Convent of São Paulo and the Convent of Capuchos in the heart of the Arrábida Natural Park. After the visits, we'll go on our usual walk, which will pass by Palmela Castle, Chibanes Castro and Serra dos Gaiteiros. Another event not to be missed!

CONVENT OF ST PAULO

This convent has already undergone restoration work, thus marking the beginning of the intervention. The work centred on installing a rainwater protection structure, consolidating the main structure of the building and covering the walls exposed to the elements. The surrounding area has been regularly cleaned up and paths laid.

Access

It is accessed from the valley that precedes the isolated platform on which the convent stands "via a steep zigzag path, supported by buttressed masonry walls. This access ends at a terrace in front of the church, with splendid views over the Sado and the city of Setúbal, delimited by a wall with stone seats, on which you can see some traces of post-earthquake polychrome tiles."

Church

It has a rectangular nave covered by a barrel vault that ends in the triumphal arch, with fragments of tombs on the floor; "the chancel, smaller than the nave, also has a barrel vault"; "the front of the church separates the two bodies of the convent";

Two monastic bodies

"the narrower one, where the cells and dormitories were, on the right-hand side, with a façade higher than that of the church, is completely ruined, especially the top floor, with no roof"

On the left side of the church is "the body of the cloister, with a single floor covered by a terrace"; it is a "beautiful Mannerist space that preserves all the structural elements, very sober but well designed, probably realised in the second half of the 17th century, during the building campaign of 1672 (...). The cloister has three full-turn arches supported by limestone Tuscan columns (...) The tiled floor has been kept, but the tiled plinth in the galleries has disappeared."

Terrace

"At the north-west corner of the cloister, a staircase leads to the terrace that covers the galleries and other rooms of the same body."

Fresco House

"On the opposite side of the church, the access road to the Holy Fountain is still preserved." At the bottom, dug into the hillside, is the "fresco house" of the Holy Fountain - "a space in the shape of an artificial grotto completely decorated with embrechados, which must have been used by the hermits of São Paulo as a place of meditation."This Holy Fountain is considered "one of the smallest but greatest jewels of Palmela's artistic heritage".

CAPUCHIN CONVENT OF ALFERRARA:

As it has become more dilapidated, it has also been the target of successive interventions in its surroundings, such as deforestation and access arrangements. It is also the subject of a topographical and architectural survey, as well as an assessment of structural needs in order to move on to a support phase.

Church

"The main façade faces west and is of great artistic interest", as it is "one of the most interesting examples of the use of moulded stucco on exteriors to be found in Portugal", only paralleled by monuments located in the former Portuguese territories of India; the façade is in danger of collapsing; "in the central span, there is a round arch with rusticated stones, and on the sides there are straight ends, supported by two columns in the centre and two half-columns at the ends"; apart from the narthex, "the church, resulting from the reconstruction of 1639, has only an elongated, empty nave, covered by a barrel vault of stuccoed masonry, compartmentalised by toral arches resting on a simple Mannerist cornice. (...) The triumphal arch retains its ashlar pillars halfway up and the rest of the brick structure is bare. The square chancel is also empty." Adjacent to the chancel, facing east, is what is thought to be the sacristy enclosure, "rectangular in section, with a depressed barrel vaulted roof" and "lit by two windows";

Monastic dependencies

Next to the church, to the south, is the convent building; "the entire lower floor is formed by thick walls and robust masonry barrel vaults".
In the centre of the convent space is the cloister, which has a structure similar to that of other Capuchin convents, "with windows on the upper floor and the openings on the lower floor topped by a straight stone lintel instead of arcades, supported by the abacuses of four square pillars at the corners and two very rough columns on each side."
Next to the cloister is a relatively large room, thought to have been the Chapter House.
"Next to the gatehouse is another carefully constructed room, which should have been the refectory, remodelled in 1712". As with the rest of the spaces, "it is covered by a barrel vault made of masonry".

- Visit to the São Paulo Convent - Visit to the Capuchos Convent - Walk in the Serra da Arrábida Natural Park - Natural landscapes -