Cultural places in Portugal

Convent • Almada, Setúbal

The Convento dos Capuchos is located in Caparica, in the municipality of Almada, within the area of the Protected Landscape of the Fossil Cliff of Costa de Caparica. Built in 1558 on the initiative of Lourenço Pires de Távora, it was intended for a community of friars of the Order of Saint Francis, under the invocation of Our Lady of Piety. Its architecture was designed for retreat, prayer and poverty: a modest, austere and stripped-back construction, with small cells on the upper floor and spaces connected to worship and daily life on the lower floor. Outside, the former enclosure included agricultural land, niches, a tank, a small hermitage dedicated to Saint Peter, a porch, a clock tower and a cemetery. Shaken by the 1755 Earthquake, the convent closed after the extinction of the religious orders in 1834. Acquired in ruins by Almada City Council in 1950, it was restored and integrated into the cultural life of the municipality.