Misericordia Church

The Misericórdia Church is located in the parish of Freixo de Espada à Cinta, in Praça Jorge Álvares, in the heart of the historic center, opposite the Mother Church. It is contemporary with the Mother Church, also with traces of Manueline architecture, but very different from its counterparts, as its ornate façade is the opposite of its magnificently crafted interior. It dates back to the 16th century and is characterized as a 16th century building with a vaulted chancel and gilded altars. The Misericórdia Church is an example of Mannerist and Baroque religious architecture. It is a church with a longitudinal floor plan, comprising a nave and a larger chancel, with a side chapel and sacristy attached to the right-hand side façade, with different interior roofs, with wooden beams in the nave and a star vault in the chancel, illuminated unilaterally by round-arched windows on the right-hand side façade. The main façade is topped by a straight gable, with a small bell tower in the center and the openings divided into a shaft composed of a round-arched portal and a window with the same profile. The façades are also topped by a cornice, with gargoyles and pinnacles in the chancel area, the sides with round arched cross-posts, and one on the right side with a Manueline-influenced polylobed profile. The interior has a high choir and wooden pulpit on the Gospel side, with a round triumphal arch supported by pilasters, giving access to the chancel with a gilded altarpiece and collaterals from the 18th century, in the Portuguese Baroque style.