the 68-step stairway is the first order of business
Out front, a 68-step stone stairway climbs to the forecourt. The church sits at 598 metres above sea level, at the top of Monte, with the lower town of Funchal and the sea below. Devotion to Nossa Senhora do Monte started here, with the colonisation of the island: in 1470, Adão Gonçalves Ferreira, the first man born on Madeira, had a chapel built to Nossa Senhora da Encarnação. That chapel was the origin of the sanctuary.
The current church is another matter. The first stone was laid on 10 June 1741. A few months after it was completed, on 31 March 1748, an earthquake destroyed it. It was rebuilt over seven more decades and finally consecrated on 20 December 1818. The architecture is insular baroque from the late 18th century, with the distinctive feature of a façade flanked by two bell towers, an uncommon solution in the region.
Inside is the image of Nossa Senhora do Monte, venerated since the earliest days of settlement, patron of Funchal and of Madeira (formally declared by Pope Pius VII in 1804). On 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption, the archipelago's biggest religious celebration takes place: pilgrims climb the hill, many on foot, some barefoot, all carrying wax candles moulded in the shape of body parts, or as tall as the pilgrim themselves.
In a side chapel is the tomb of Charles I of Habsburg, the last Emperor of Austria. He died in exile at Monte on 1 April 1922 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004. At the church door, a bronze statue by sculptor Augusto Cid evokes his memory. When you leave, you can descend to Funchal in the carros de cesto, which depart right next door.
what you'll find inside
- the image of Nossa Senhora do Monte, venerated since the late 15th century, patron of Funchal and Madeira
- the tomb of Charles I of Habsburg, last Emperor of Austria, beatified in 2004
- the insular baroque architecture from the late 18th century, with a façade flanked by bell towers
- 17th and 18th-century gold and silverwork and antique candelabras
- the bronze statue of Charles I, by sculptor Augusto Cid, in the forecourt in front of the church
- the view over Funchal and the sea, at 598 metres altitude
