Igreja da Misericórdia

Beautiful church with a magnificent organ.

Very beautiful historic site in the heart of Guimarães

Opening hours should be expanded. Proximity to the Historic Center requires it.

I was enchanted by the beauty of the church. A true work of art built with a lot of love and care.

Magnificent Church belonging to Misericórdia, beautiful interior in gilded carving, imposing altar, Guimarães excels in possessing a vast heritage and this Church is an illustrative example of the immense estate existing in a city that has developed exponentially in recent years, the proud Vimaranenses who deserve to live in this land blessed with such rich history.

It can be visited from Monday to Saturday: from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. In addition, there is mass on Thursdays at 5 p.m. and on Sundays and holidays at 10:30 a.m. It is worth it if you walk along the street that goes from Largo de Toural to the Collegiate Church, to make a stop to contemplate it -even if only from the outside-, for the beauty of its façade and the square where it is, next to the Casa de La Misericordia, Casa dos Lobos Machado and one of the steps of Consolation. The Guimarães Brotherhood of Mercy was founded in the first decade of the 16th century and was installed at the beginning, within the cloisters of the Collegiate Church of Nossa Senhora da Oliveira. The need arose to install the brotherhood in an autonomous building and on May 20, 1588 the first stone of the Church was laid. Gonçalo Lopes and Pedro Afonso de Amorim were hired to carry out the work. In 1603 Gonçalo Lopes died, so in 1604 a new contract was signed with Pedro Afonso de Amorim and his son-in-law. From this date the walls of the church, the high choir and the facade of the altarpiece were built. In 1607 the church was inaugurated and the reconstruction works of the facade began with a new design by João Lopes de Amorim, which would continue until 1640. The church follows a mannerist structure in which the verticality of the building stands out; and its paradigmatic façade is one of the best examples of Mannerist altarpiece facades. It is divided into two registers. The first, accessed by a staircase, has in the center the main portal of the temple, with an arch framed by two medallions with busts and topped by a frieze decorated with geometric motifs, flanked by fluted Corinthian columns with a base decorated by motifs. "Diamond tip". An entablature separates the first register from the second, which in the center has a glass niche with a triangular pediment, where there is an image of Nossa Senhora da Misericordia, flanked by Corinthian columns. The complex is topped by an interrupted circular pediment, topped by an oculus and flanked by pinnacles. A cross crowns the church. The interior, with a single nave, has a barrel vault; a rectangular presbytery and a high choir with a low arch. The side chapels have gray and gold altarpieces decorated with a colorful background with plant motifs, interspersed with square windows and pulpits. There are sculptures of Sta. Teresa of Lisieux, Our Lady of the Rosary, Lady of Consolation-crossed by several swords- and a curious Lord of Green Cane with long royal hair, crown and tied hands with a branch; among others. A beautiful main altarpiece from the end of the 18th century, the pulpits from 1781, and the gold box of the Iberian organ stand out. From the looting, two paintings stand out: one of them on canvas with the image of Our Lady of Mercy, and another on wood that represents the Visitation and dates from 1616.