The village of Sagres that was abandoned and in ruins because of  pirates raids, was  rebuilt and repopulated.

This rebuilding, by the Infante, obeyed some essential dictates:

- the need that the vessels of the time had to take refuge from the winds in the neighboring coves, waiting for favorable winds for navigation.
- the logistics requirements (boats, groceries, sailors) of the first Age of Discovery  phase.
- the convenience of maritime traffic control, being right of passage of vessels crossing the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, and vice versa.
- security and isolation necessary for the processing of information collected at the beginning of the draft Portuguese expansion stretching across North Africa.
Fortification of the tip of the promontory was determined by its location and shape, enjoying the cliff as a natural defense in three of its four sides, closely linked to its excellent strategic possibilities that integrate with the aforementioned dictates.

Thus, Sagres the first half of the fourteenth century became the core of the Portuguese maritime expansion, receiving scholars and sailors of all nationalities, gathered around the infant in Sagres School. This story was challenged by Luis de Albuquerque, “Doubts and Certainties in the history of the Portuguese Discoveries” (Lisbon, 1990, pages 15-27), which demonstrated that it was a myth.

After the death of Prince Henry (1460),  the axis of expansion was moved to Lisbon, and Sangres lost importance. As a result the distance between the Vila do Infante and the Bishop’s Village, where celebrated religious services, King Manuel (1495-1521) created of the parish of Sagres and orderer the building of the local church (1512).

Later, in 1573, King Sebastian (1568-1578) created two bastions at the extremes of the existing wall, crucial elements in the military architecture after the advent of artillery, strategically placed to optimizes the crossfire.

This space, called by many as the end of the known world is one of the largest areas of standing stones and megalithic buildings in Europe. Visited by browsers coming from the Mediterranean Sea from c. 4000 BC, was quoted from classical antiquity by Avieno, Strabo and Pliny as a worship area dedicated to Saturn or Hercules, strong connotation of deities with the maritime world. Later, during the Islamic occupation of the Iberian Peninsula sharpened up his place of pilgrimage character and are called then “Chakrach” having very contributed to this legend of the relics of the Christian martyr St. Vincent de Zaragoza.

Prince Henry employed cartographers, such as Jehuda Cresques, who created Mauritania coast maps. Hired  Jaime de Mallorca, a well known cartographer so that the masters might have the best information and nautical equipment available. This led to the legend of the Naval School of Sagres (although a “school” means here a study group, not a building).

There has never been a center of navigation sciences or an observatory. The center of the expeditions was Lagos, further east. Only later would leave the shipping lanes of Bethlehem, west of Lisbon.

Plaque in honor of Prince Henry, offered by the US Navy and placed in the Sagres Fortress.

It was a time of important discoveries: the mapping was made more precise through new measure instruments with improved versions of the astrolabe and sundial, the maps were updated and improved also designed a revolutionary type of vessel, the caravel.

Prince Henry built a chapel near his home in 1459 for would be spending more time in or near Sagres the following years.

He died in Sagres on November 13, 1460.

The precise location of the navigation school of Prince Henry (in Lagos?) Is unknown (it’s a popular belief that was destroyed in the earthquake of 1755).

The population in 2011 was 1,909,  in an area of 34.37 km².

 It is historically connected to the early Portuguese Age of Discovery.

The name Sagres, follows from Sagrado (holy) owing to the important local religious practices and rituals that occurred during the pre-history of the nation. From here some of the Mediterranean peoples (including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians and Romans), venerated their divinities and which some believed, owing to the absence of a human settlement, was the gathering place for their gods. Christinas (Mozarabs) that lived in this zone, during the Muslim occupation, erected the Church of Corvo, where the mortal remains of the saint Vincent were deposited in the 8th century. The presence of martyr’s remains lead the Portuguese to refer to the site and the peninsula as the Cape of Saint Vincent.

The area has been intrinsically linked to the nautical school first developed by Prince Henry the Navigator, which was installed in the 15th century.^[3] Although born in the provincial city of Porto (1394), he would be connected with his life in the parish, until his death in 1460, being known as the Infante of Sagres.^[3] Although there existed a medieval settlement in this area (Terçanabal), all the land was donated on 27 October 1443 to Infante Henry. The prince was associated with the Military Order of Christ, Duke of Viseu, Master of Covilã and a man preoccupied with his signeurial holdings and defense of his faith. Henry obtained his wealth from the lands he held and the fisheries in the Algarve, and therefore preoccupied himself with needs of his workers, both materially and spiritually, and therefore invested in the founding of a village (later known as theVila do Infante) to assist the population.^[3] The fortified town was situated on the Ponta de Sagres, a strategic point dominated the coves of Mareta and Beliche. Henry’s controlled his material interests from his villa, located on the clifftops, and when he died on 13 November 1460, the Portuguese navigators and other services, had already reached Sierra Leon.

Sagres was created in 1519, through the division of the municipality of Vila do Bispo.

King Sebastian was known to have spent time in the parish, listening to music along the cliffs and the sea. A chronicle of the 16th century, referred to the young Kings stay at the Convent of São Vicente do Cabo, and later, locals recounted that King was enchanted by the landscape of Sagres.

In May 1587, Francis Drake (one of more notable adventurers and military officers in the Court of Elizabeth) disembarked 800 men who assaulted the fortress of Sagres. After two hours of intense combat, fortifications adjacent to the fortress were destroyed and its artillery was pillaged.

Until 1834, Sagres was an independent municipality, consisting of little more than 413 inhabitants.

This is a region of ancient Roman occupation, existing within the Raposeira important prehistoric legacy as the Menhir of Aspradantes or menhirs set of Milrei and Standard.

In Raposeira resided Infante Dom Henrique, such proximity to Sagres, Portugal preparing for the golden Age of Discovery.

The parish has a beautiful and simple Church in Manueline style, the sixteenth century, which has a strange decorative effect, caused by a human face inserted into the white wall.

VI.

The most common decorations in menhirs of Vila do Bispo municipality are:

(i) 3 or 4 sets of parallel wavy lines;
(ii) the targeted sets of ellipses;
(iii) non-threaded assemblies ellipses extending from the top to the bottom of the menir;
(iv) semi-ellipses sets that are organized around a cord on top of the menhir (see photo). It is not known its meaning.

In the first half of the fourteenth century, the temple was probably benefited at the expense of Mrs Vataça Lascaris, Byzantine grantee who held the award of Cacém Santiago between 1310 and 1336. In 1530, when commandery Alonso Peres Pantoja, the temple received a deep intervention. However, after a few centuries, the church turned out to be the subject of two new interventions: one that took place in 1704, in D. Pedro II, and another between 1796 and 1830, the latter due to the earthquake of 1755. The intervention changed the orientation of the church – the entry went on to make then the place where was the main chapel – and the dimensions that hitherto held.

In the late nineteenth century, specifically in 1895, the church was the scene of a fire, which caused some damage, being followed by another in 1912, which led to the transfer of the parish to the Mercy church. In 1933, Archdeacon Antonio Rebelo of the Angels, being precautious against future destruction and fires, sent renovate the interior – especially the chancel and side altars – and outside the church.

The exterior of the building stands out for its impressive late Baroque lines, directed by a top-down guidance, which favored the external marking of the three ships, and the busy pediment, strong scenic nature – with references to the attributes of Santiago Apostle. In the South side elevation, there is a Gothic portal of centuries XIII / XIV, known as Puerta del Sol, where there prevails a zoofitomórfica figuration.

Inside can be seen the Manueline vaults of the old chapel and the aisles or broken arches, with its hermetic Christian iconography. Alongside these elements, can also be seen the side altars of the seventeenth century the tiles and the famous Gothic embossed representing Santiago fighting the Moors, Century sculpture work XIV, most likely offered by Mrs Vataça Lascaris.

The church is classified as a National Monument since 1910. The General Directorate of National Buildings and Monuments has, in recent years, to benefit this church with successive works of conservation and restoration.

It was the desire to make known a secular estate, mingling with the history of the parish church, which led the City Council and the Diocese of Beja to join forces to organize the museum center Treasury of the Collegiate, which opened its doors to the public on 25 July 2002.

Here we can see, in addition to the shrine of the Holy Cross, works of art and a remarkable estate intended to serve mainly liturgical ceremonies.

Time: April to September from 10h00 to 12h30 and from 14h30 to 18h00 – October to March 10h00 to 12h30 and from 14h00 to 17h00.
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays, Easter, Christmas and New Year

Tel .: 269 810 276

There is evidence of human populations in the area in the county since prehistoric times. Traces of some of these settlements are today found in archaeological sites like Palmeirinha and Quiteria.

The Celts and Punic also have been by Sines. The Celtic presence is only a hypothesis, but the Punic is certain: it is the Punic Treasury Gaius, discovered in a county homestead in 1966 and currently in the custody of Sines Museum.

With the Romans, the county is defined for the first time as a port and industrial center. The Bay of Sines is the port city of Miróbriga. The Peach Island the channel is connected to Arandis (Garvão). Under the power of Rome, Sines and the Island are poles “industrial” with complex of fish salting. The second hypothesis etymology of Sines is also Roman, “sinus” – bay or “sinus” – among which is the Sines cable configuration seen from Monte Chaos.

The High Middle Ages, when the region was occupation by Visigoths and Moors, it is the darkest period in the history of Sines. There is the Museum of Sines stonework Visigoth attesting to the existence of a seventh-century basilica. During the Arab occupation of the southern peninsula, Sines is practically abandoned.

Village of Santiago Order from the thirteenth century, Sines acquires administrative autonomy on 24 November 1362. Dom Pedro I grants Sines lifting letter to concerned village in its defensive function of the coast, putting as a condition the construction of the Castle.

The life of the city in the modern age continues to be marked by the maritime functions. The foundation of Porto Covo, by Jacinto Flag, happens at the end of the eighteenth century, the assumption there come to be built two ports.

In the nineteenth century, with Liberalism, the county no longer belongs to the Order of Santiago and just even to be extinct in 1855. But the second half of the century is paradoxically growth.

In the mid-nineteenth century, a young doctor Algarve writes the first Sines known monograph, “Quick Sines News”. The Sines Francisco Luís Lopes is a village in trouble, but open and tolerant.

The twentieth century begins practically with the city restoration in 1914. The cork industry, fishing and some agriculture and tourism are the basis Sines of life until the end of the 60s, when, in addition to the proximity of the sea, Sines little is distinguished from the rest of the Alentejo.

The large industrial complex created by Marcello Caetano government in Sines in 1970, changes the county. The population explodes and diversifies, the landscape gets new settings and the community struggle to keep their integrity and the quality of life, mitigating the negative impacts of the installation of new units and taking advantage of the positive.

Miróbriga is one of the most significant traces of Roman times in the southwest of Portugal. It was classified as a cultural heritage building in 1940.

The Roman city extends for over 2 km, with ruins of residential buildings, paved streets, a hippodrome, spa, a bridge and a forum.

The Miróbriga Forum is located in an area called the “Old Castle”, the castle of place-name in the south indicates numerous times pre-Roman occupation. This is the case of Mirobriga. It has been occupied since the Bronze Age, and Iron which benefited from the Punic trade in the fourth century BC

The particle “fight” seems to indicate the area of celtização. The Roman occupation itself takes place in the first century AD, and possibly have the Estipendiária status. Its etymology derives from two ancient Celtic words miro / more (sea) and fight (fortress), so the place name means Sea Fortress In pre-Roman times was the main town of mirobricenses, one of the tribes of Celtic, one tribal confederation whose territory was located south of the Lusitanian and the northern territory of cónios (corresponding to current Algarve and southern district of Beja), that is, south of the Tagus river (old Tagus) River Guadiana (old Anas ), corresponding to a large extent, the current Alentejo, Setúbal Peninsula, Ribatejo, south of the Tagus river, and part of Extremadura.

At the time flaviana the city’s development was intense and may well have come to get the municipality status, along with Bracara Augusta and Conímbriga. What would likely quite possibly controlled a territory relatively away from each other, as in the case of Sines.

Depopulation Miróbriga, have occurred, according to archaeological evidence so far established in the fourth century AD, the Roman Empire decay of time often registered in other cities.

We can appreciate a forum, quite possibly built in the first century AD, and the baths that have been built in the following century, a temple, with the cultic purpose. This same temple is highlighted within the metropolis. It occupies a central place in the forum. There is another structure also cultic functions, according to Don Fernando de Almeida – the Venus Temple.

The thermal baths are the best preserved in the country. We have this spa, built in the second century AD, and west spa that saw the dawn around the second half of that century. Both the topographic choice for deployment, as the materials for its construction were carefully checked thought. There is an entrance area with massage rooms, dressing room, and cold water zone (frigidarium) and hot water (caldarium).

The racetrack is the only registered in Portugal. It measures 369 x 75 meters, and would probably have wooden benches.

Were also laid bare several rooms containing murals.

In a dominant position on a modest hill nearby the Atlantic coast and the port of Sines, controlled the nearby plain. Currently integrates the Tourism Region of the Costa Azul.

The early human occupation of your site dates back to Celtic tribes. At the time of Romanization of the Iberian peninsula, the then existing town was named as Miróbriga, integrating the convent jurisdiction of Pax Julia (now Beja).

Occupied by the Alans during the first decades of the fifth century, was abandoned in the sixth century, and the population moved to the nearby hill, closer to the sea. The new settlement was successively dominated by the Visigoths and the beginning of the second decade of the eighth century by Muslims, when it became known as Kassen.

The medieval castle
At the time of the Christian Reconquista of the peninsula, Santiago do Cacém was first taken in 1158, in the context of Alcacer do Sal conquest by the forces of King Afonso Henriques (1112-1185). Similarly, it would be recovered between 1190 and 1191 by the forces of the Almohad caliph Abu Yusuf Ya’qub al-Mansur when resumed that city.

Since 1186 Sancho I of Portugal had donated to the Order of Santiago areas of Almada, Palmela and Alcacer do Sal The first two had been reconquered prior to 1194.; the last remained in Muslim possession until 1217. This year, under the reign of Alfonso II (1211-1223), Cacém definitely passes into possession of Portugal, when their fields were also donated to the Order of the Knights, passing these monks warriors to take up the reconstruction of their defenses. From this period, the town becomes known for her current place name: Santiago do Cacém, dating this stage its first charter.

Under the reign of King Dinis (1279-1325), the castle was owned by Vataça Lascaris (Dona Vetácia), nurse and friend of Queen Santa Isabel, from 1315 until 1336, when he returned to the areas of the Order of Santiago.

At the time of the 1383-1385 crisis, was one of the first towns to declare party by the Master of Avis, since Fernando Afonso de Albuquerque, Master of Santiago, was available at your service, all the resources of his Order.

Under the reign of Manuel I of Portugal received Foral New (1512).

At the time of the Philippine Dynasty, Philip II of Spain donated the castle to the Duke of Aveiro (1594).

War of the Restoration to the present day [edit | edit source]
The defense of the village lost strategic importance after the Restoration War, in the second of the seventeenth century. The castle area returned to the possession of the Crown in 1759. Since then the old castle was phased out and entered into sharp ruin process. Its dependencies were used in the nineteenth century as the village cemetery.

In the twentieth century, was a National Monument by Decree published on 23 June 1910. More recently, were promoted consolidation and restoration interventions in charge of National Buildings and Monuments Directorate General (DGEMN).

The legend of the foundation
At the time of Muslim occupation, was lord of this region a rich Moor who had three children: two boys and a girl. Very old, feeling the approaching death, he called the children and communicated their desire to share their goods, asking them to do so harmoniously with each other. According to custom, the older boy took to himself the lands they wished; the second, carried out in the same manner with the remaining part. Still leaving vast expanse of property and wealth for the young, the elderly father asks if you had been pleased with the part that touched her, to which she replied: – Yes, my father, but I do not want properties. I think it is more necessary to have a castle for our defense. For me I just wish the ground that you can cover with the skin of an ox. Given the father’s admiration and brothers, had his skin had asked, so he could mark the part that had claimed the inheritance. She did then cut the skin into thin strips, and they defined the perimeter of the area than intended. When finished, followed by three days of heavy fog, after which dissipated: all saw then erected by magic, the Castle of Santiago de Cacém. (Supplement Alentejo Coast, December 1998, revised.)

The legend of the Byzantine princess
Another legend tells of a princess called Bataça Lascaris (Vataça Lascaris), fled the eastern Mediterranean, in command of a fierce squad by herself armed. The princess arrived in Sines and in front of his troops, marched to the south, coming to attack an Islamic town, governed by a master of Kassen name. Giving him battle, Princess defeated him and killed him, taking her castle on the day of Santiago (July 25). Therefore, put the village the name of Santiago de Kassen. (Julio Gil. The Most Beautiful Castles of Portugal, adapted.)