The most beautiful religious buildings East Coast

With a celestial vocation but choosing other ways to reach the altitude, the 16th century parish church dedicated to São Salvador has a beautiful Gothic entrance and a rose window, and is worth a small detour. It is the second largest church on the island, after the one in Funchal. On the outside, we find the characteristic immaculate facade of the local churches, contrasted with gray stone corners, topped by an elegant Manueline bell tower. Its Gothic portal opens onto a three-aisle vessel that ends with a gilded high altar.

Built in 1425 on the initiative of the captain-donor Tristão Vaz Teixeira, the church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição has undergone several modifications over the centuries. Preceded by a five-arched portal, it now combines a single Manueline-style nave, a Mannerist apse decorated with gilded wainscotting and a Baroque style high altar in carved and gilded wood (17th century). Its rectangular bell tower decorated with a clock dates from the 19th century. The three marble columns of the side door would have been offered by King Manuel I.