Santiago (Saint James) is the second Parish Church of Tavira, having been built circa 1270, just a handful of metres in front of the other parish Church, dedicated to Saint Mary of the Castle (Santa Maria do Castelo, built after 1242).
Being a humble single-nave church (also known as aisleless church), Santiago was restored several times during the last seven or eight centuries, and most of what we can see today is the product of a vast restoration campaign that took place in the first half of the XVIII Century (and not after the 1755 Earthquake, as several local authors claim); the 1805 works were also extremely important.
Both in the exterior and the interior, no traces of the medieval church can be seen – you would need an archaeological excavation to be able to see the Middle-Age “bones” of Saint James of Tavira. This is, essentially, an XVIII Century church, that just happened to have been originally built in the last third of the XIII Century.
In the interior, it’s amazing the contrast between the austerity of the white walls and ceiling and the slight exuberance of the side and main altars.
