Church of São Lourenço

The Church of São Lourenço is a Church in the civil parish of Almancil, in the municipality of Loulé in the Portuguese Algarve.HistoryThe oldest recorded reference to this church came from 1672; the Livro da Freguesia de São João da Venda, referring to the ecclesiastical parish of São João de Venda, identified the visit of prelates to the parish. It was these same prelates that on 23 May 1684, addressed the necessity of constructing a temple in the area to the parish vicar.For successive years the, starting on 7 February 1693, there were references to the temple in the same Livro da Freguesia, including 16 August 1695 and 26 May 1715, but no reference to a period of construction or completion.The azulejo tile was applied to the church in 1730 by Policarpo de Oliveira Bernardes, from an inscription in the choir. Between 1868 and 1869 a wooden choir was installed, without reusing the existing tile.Two niches were constructed sometime during the 19th century, resulting in the destruction of some figurative azulejo tile.The Catholic church, around 1968, began reconstruction of the church's roof and annex, in addition to removing the wood from the corner of the nave and reparation of the pavement, the doors and frames were repaired and there was re-plastering and lime of the facades. It was at this time that the choir, pulpit and lateral retables were removed. This work also included landscaping of the churchyard.On 28 February 1969, following an earthquake, there was some damage to the building, including cracks in the walls linking the presbytery with the sacristy and the arches supporting the southern annex ceiling. The DGEMN interevented the following year to fix and repair the azulejo tile. This involved the calculated removal of tile, resurfacing of the walls and vaulted ceilings with cement mortar and sand, as well as other surfaces requiring retouching, including the sacristy.