the legend started next door, in the small chapel at the cliff's edge
The story of the sanctuary is the legend of Nazaré, and the legend starts at the cliffs. In 1182, so the story goes, D. Fuas Roupinho, alcaide-mor of the castle of Porto de Mós, was hunting at the Sítio when he chased a deer to the edge of the cliff. He called on the Virgin; his horse stopped; the rider was saved. In thanksgiving, he ordered a chapel to be built right there, the Ermida da Memória, above the grotto where the image had been kept centuries before. That small chapel is still there, right next to it, at the cliff edge.
The sanctuary where the image is venerated today is the third place in its history. It was founded by King D. Fernando I in 1377, received the image that year (from the Ermida da Memória), and began to be rebuilt at the beginning of the 17th century. The works continued until the end of the 19th. So nothing about the current building gives away its medieval origins.
The main façade has two bell towers and opens onto a square sized for crowds of pilgrims. Inside, a single nave in the shape of a Latin cross. The high altar has a gilded woodwork retable in the Portuguese national style, with Solomonic columns, from the late 17th century. In the niche stands the image of Nossa Senhora da Nazaré, in polychrome wood with dark skin tones, with the Child in her arms. The green mantle embroidered in gold was a gift from D. João V; the diadems were a gift from D. João VI.
The transept is lined with Dutch azulejo panels ordered in 1708 from an Amsterdam firm, with 6,568 pieces. The sacristy has paintings with scenes of the miracle. The Sítio is the full programme: the sanctuary, the Ermida da Memória next door, the viewpoint over the beach where the giant waves rise, and the funicular down to the lower town of Nazaré.
what you'll find inside
- the high altar retable in gilded woodwork in the Portuguese national style, from the late 17th century
- the Dutch azulejo panels ordered in 1708, in the transept
- the sacristy paintings with scenes of D. Fuas Roupinho's miracle
- the Ermida da Memória next door, above the original grotto, at the cliff edge
