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GPS 37.3163639156912, -8.795494783799143

The Old Mother Church of Aljezur was a religious monument in the village of Aljezur, in the Algarve region of Portugal. Built in the 13th century, it was destroyed by the 1755 earthquake, and its ruins were used as a cemetery until the 19th century (37.318458522135586, -8.804092526937985).

It was replaced by a new parish church, built in a different location.

Description

The ruins of the old mother church are located in the historic center of Aljezur, close to the castle, the Antoniano Museum and the Casa Museu Pintor José Cercas.

The church was originally built in the Romanesque style, but has undergone several structural changes throughout its history, due to multiple works campaigns. One of the main changes was to the high altar, which in its final form already had a Gothic Manueline configuration. The oldest documents describe it as having a single nave, which was accessed through three ogive portals, at the top of a staircase. The largest of these portals had a coat of arms with the heraldry of the Order of Santiago, which has been preserved in the Municipal Museum. The original building had a belfry on the south wall, with two bells. One of the bells survived the earthquake, having been exhibited at the Museu de Arte Sacra Monsenhor Francisco Pardal. This bell was originally cast in the 13th or 14th centuries, being one of the oldest in the national territory, and features several outstanding elements, including two cords with legends in Carolingian-Gothic letters, common from the late 13th to 14th centuries, the image of the patron saint of the church, Santa Maria da Alva, crowned and with the Child Jesus in her lap, and on the opposite side the image of Santa Bárbara. The latter is of special interest because Santa Bárbara was the patroness of only two churches of the Order of Santiago in the Algarve, one in Faro and the other in Tavira, and no reference is made to a temple dedicated to this saint in the Comenda, nor in the various Visitations. of the Order in the 15th and 16th centuries. Although Santa Barbara is mainly known for protecting against storms and thunderstorms, it was also invoked to protect individuals from sudden death, without time to make a confession or extreme unction, which was greatly feared by medieval populations.

History

The place where the church was located would have been inhabited at least since antiquity, as the archaeologist Estácio da Veiga mentions in his work Antiguidades monumentaes do Algarve: «in the ruins of the old main church, destroyed by the earthquake of 1755, more than once has found remains of Roman constructions and coins from various peoples».

The church was probably built in the 13th century, following the Christian reconquest of Aljezur. Historian José António Martins put forward the theory that it was already completed when King Dinis visited the Algarve for the first time, in 1282, a hypothesis supported by the fact that the town already had a charter at that time, being most likely already open for worship when that monarch visited the region for the second time, in 1302. The oldest church records are from 1320 and 1321, when King D. Dinis ordered a population census to be carried out. The temple was the target of multiple restoration and improvement works by the Order of Santiago, mainly due to problems with the roof and pavement. In the 16th century, major changes were made, which included the total reconstruction of the main altar, which began to present a Manueline style, the installation of a sacristy and the elimination of the frescoes that decorated the walls.

The village was badly hit by the 1755 earthquake, including the Igreja Matriz, which was in a state of disrepair. The Bishop of the Algarve, D. Francisco Gomes de Avelar, planned the construction of a new population center in a flatter and healthier place, which also included the installation of a new parish church. However, due to the opposition of the inhabitants of Aljezur, it was only in the 19th century that the move to the new location was completed.

Before its destruction, the church was used as a burial place, and this practice continued after the earthquake, since the site of the old building was used as a cemetery until the 19th century. Parts of its structure will also have been reused in the construction of houses nearby. One of the important figures buried in the church was Bartolomeu Perestrelo, who died in the mid-15th century and was the father-in-law of Christopher Columbus. From the original temple, some Mannerist paintings survived, which were transported to the new parish church.

In May 2008, archaeological research began in the old cemetery of Aljezur, as part of the first campaign for the archaeological enhancement of that space, organized by the Association for the Defense of the Historical and Archaeological Heritage of Aljezur, Arqueonova – Association of Archeology and Defense of Heritage, and the Municipality of Aljezur, which financed this intervention. Several vestiges of the old church were found, such as several parts of the old floor of the building, in brick, which were raised to excavate the graves, a side wall with a covered door, which was reused as part of the cemetery walls, remains of the old arches , and other parts of the building that were incorporated into the walls of the cemetery, of particular interest is a disc-shaped stele, decorated with a lowered quatrefoil, with straight ends and an eight-pointed star. The assets collected at the site include part of a statue of Christ crucified in terracotta, which may have belonged to the church, thirty coins, mainly money from the first dynasty and ceitis minted between the mid-15th century and the end of the reign of King Manuel I, and decorative and clothing items, such as beads, pins, rings, and buttons in metal, glass, and mother-of-pearl.

A large number of corpses were also discovered, which were deposited on several successive levels, indicating that the space considered sacred would be of very reduced dimensions. In the oldest layer, corresponding to the 16th century, the bones belong mainly to adult individuals, elderly or very young, such as babies and fetuses, with only a few specimens of young people having been found. According to José Marreiros, president of the Association for the Defense of the Historical and Archaeological Heritage of Aljezur, this provides important testimony about the demography of the time, as it indicates that individuals who survived childhood had a good chance of living to an advanced age, despite of life expectancy being much lower at that time. The most recent layer of burials dates from the 19th century, with the presence of the corpses of several children being of particular interest, which were decorated with branches in copper wire, decorated with flowers and leaves in blue and green tones, and which were placed around head or over the torso. Several traces of burials inside coffins were also found, such as fragments of wood, lining fabrics, bronze and iron handles, as well as some parts of clothing, such as buckles and leather shoes, with bronze eyelets. However, most individuals were not buried inside coffins, since this process was much more expensive, being reserved only for the wealthiest inhabitants. According to José Marreiros, these works and their subsequent research would allow for greater knowledge «about the experience of these people from Aljezur for centuries, about their diet and the illnesses they suffered from».