St. Peter of the Heads Chapel

St. Peter of the Heads Chapel
Ermida de São Pedro das Cabeças stands near Castro Verde, at the site where the historical Battle of Ourique, is supposed to have been fought, when king Afonso Henriques defeated the armies of five Moorish kingdoms, after a violent struggle.

King Sebastian, who ordered the construction of the chapel in this lonely place, payed thus hommage to the courage of the first Portuguese monarch.

Dating from the 16th century, the chapel is an example of popular and Mannerist religious architecture.

The Baroque style is visible in the bell-tower and the mural paintings.

Of rectangular shape, it has a single nave and main chapel, and was once a place of pilrimage.

Marking an important feat of Portugal´s history, the chapel´s main beauty is the simplicity of its white-washed façades, rising above a plain that Nature itself colours with different shades according to the seasons.