There are tinier, equally-charming chapels in Portugal, but have you seen this one? Once I spotted Capela da Aguda at a roundabout on the national road between Miramar and Espinho, I had a “Stop the car!” moment (followed shortly after by another, just up the road at Granja Train Station). With all this stopping for pictures, it’s truly a wonder how we get anywhere!
I would have posted these photos a month ago when they were taken, except I strongly prefer to post photos only after internet research. It’s a habit I started a long time ago and I believe it’s a good one to maintain, but it sometimes (or often!) holds up the posts for a long time if I can’t unearth the information quickly. In this case, I’m rather stumped. I can’t find anything on when this church was renovated or who designed it, when it was first built or what it looked like originally. I can only tell you where it is: on the north side of Praça Nossa Sra. da Nazaré in Arcozelo, a parish in the concelho of Vila Nova de Gaia. That’s about it.
I finally conceded defeat in the research department in order to post the photos. The chapel is just too charming not to show: the combination of the warm brown tijolos (bricks) above the blue and white azulejos (tiles), the clock, the curves on the doors and windows. I don’t have the architectural language to describe these features, but from a layperson’s point of view, there’s something very endearing about this chapel.
(If there are any parishioners reading this, feel free to fill in my blanks!)
(Se houver paroquianos a ler isto, estejam à vontade para acrescentar mais informação.)
July 16, 2016
Album: Portugal [Summer 2016]