Capela dos Alfaiates

Capela dos Alfaiates, a small chapel in Porto, also bears the name Chapel of Our Lady of August. The Brotherhood of Tailors built it in the mid-sixteenth century. Its façade carries a clay image of Our Lady of August, designed by Manuel Luís and set within a restrained exterior. The chapel stands at the angle of two streets. Its architecture joins late Gothic forms with Flemish-influenced Mannerism, recording an artistic transition in sixteenth-century Portugal. A gilded wooden altarpiece dominates the small interior. Eight painted panels show scenes including the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Magi, the Assumption, and the Flight into Egypt. The eight paintings date from 1590 to 1600. A limestone image of Our Lady of August stands centrally, while a seventeenth-century wooden Saint Bom Homem stands beside the main altar. It has held national monument status since the early twentieth century. A twentieth-century reconstruction followed the original design and preserved its proportions and decorative elements. Porto’s historic centre surrounds this quiet religious building.