Espírito Santo dos Mareantes

A chapel and hospital for the early sailors from Sesimbra.

After the consolidation of the Avis government, Portugal embarked on overseas expansion, including the dissemination of the one true faith. This didn’t go smoothly. On the contrary, as early as the 15th century, a chapel was built for the devotion of wounded or deceased shipmates. Initially, this serves as evidence that people from Sesimbra were involved in the early ”discovery voyages” towards Africa. The story goes that an ancestor of ours brought a star fruit back from somewhere in the South Seas, thereby establishing the surname ”Carambola” in the world.

The building fell into disrepair after the 1755 earthquake. In the 1950s, it saw a revival, first as a city library. Works in the basement in 1970 revealed a hospital, offering valuable insights into the daily lives of sailors: luxury was scarce. In 2004, the conversion into a museum began, with particular emphasis on the boat drawings on the walls, crucial for historians. Visitors can also see old coins, pipes, and tools. The chapel also houses religious art from the Renaissance, collected from the region: Saint Sebastian as the patron saint against the plague and other diseases, a painting by court painter Gregório Lopes, and an oil painting by Amaro do Vale, of which little else remains.

 

A guided tour through the exhibition with the tourism office.