The term “Alcainça” perhaps derives from the Arabic words “alçai” (meaning meeting) and “néca” (meaning women), while another source indicates that it comes from the Arabic al-kanisa, meaning “church”.

The town of Alcainça probably predates the foundation of our nationality, as evidenced by the Roman, Visigothic, Arab and medieval remains found here, and in Cabeço dos Moinhos traces of human occupation in the Bronze Age have been found.

The first documentary references to Alcainça date from 1270 and 1527. The last reference mentions the “town of Alcainça, with its couples”, which belonged “to the Sintra term” and had “a total of 48 neighbours”.

The Church of St Michael stands out, with the oldest document relating to the church dating from 1270. In the middle decades of the 17th century, the complex inherited from medieval times was substantially altered, with only part of the chapel of St Silvestre apparently remaining. The final building campaign took place in the 19th century.

The chapel of the Holy Spirit was built at the beginning of the 16th century and has the particularity of having one of the most important Manueline portals in the municipality, typologically similar to that of the chapel of the same name in Enxara do Bispo, but of superior artistic quality and greater symbolic scope, since it illustrates the three Ages of Man and the advent of the Holy Spirit.