The area that
is now the municipality of São
Brás de Alportel, was also
inhabited in prehistoric time and
in the days of the Romans.
São Brás de Alportal was the birthplace of the Moorish
Poet Ibne Ammar in the 12th century, and by the 16th century this small
village already had a hermitage. From the 17th Century onwards is was
the summer residence of the bishops of the Algarve, who were drawn to
it by its agreeable climate, and in the 19th century it became the crossroads
of the routes linking Loulé to Tavira and Faro to Almodôvar.
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The extensive
plantations of cork oak provided
a springboard for commercial and
industrial development and for years
São Brás de Alportel
was the biggest cork - producing
centre in Portugal and the world.
Its increasing population and economic
importance lead to the creation of
the municipality in 1914.
The gradual transfer of the cork manufacturing industry to the centre
and the north of Portugal has prompted the municipality in recent decades
to diversify its sources of economic prosperity.
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Built on the
site of a church that probably
dates back to the 15th century,
the current structure was built
after the earthquake of 1755. It
was extended considerably in the
19th century. The interior has
little architectural interest.
The chapel of Senhor dos Passos
(Lord of the Stations of the Cross)
contains gilded carvings in the
taste of the second half of the
18th Century and there are paintings
from the 17th century depicting
saints. Among the statues to be
seen are the arcanjo São
Miguel (Archangel Michael), São
Libório (St. Liborius) and
Santa Eurémia, (St. Euphemia)
dating back the 18th century? The
statues in the sacristy are from
the same period. In the baptistery
there is a neo-classical retable
in marble. The churchyard has spectacular
views of the surrounding countryside
and sea.
Built during the 17th and 18th centuries for the bishops of the Algarve
as a place of refuge from the summer heat. The building underwent several
modifications in the 19th and 20th centuries, which have altered its
structure. What remains of the original palace is only part of the
main building and a baroque vaulted fountain with eight spouts.
This was once the home of wealthy muleteer who grew rich in the cork
trade. This building is a good example of bourgeois architecture at
the end of the 19th century. This centre also exhibits the typical
Algarvean costumes that were worn in the 19th and 20th centuries, including
a collection of popular religious sculpture. The old farm buildings
contain about 20 old vehicles once used in the Algarve, ranging from
carriages and buggies which were the favored means of transport of
the wealthy and the mule carts and ox-drawn wagons used by farmers
and farm laborers. This museum also includes an exhibition of the typical
agricultural implements and an area dedicated to the cork industry.
