September 20• VILA DO CONDE PARISH CHURCH

21h30 • Concert Portuguese Polyphony

 

The São João Baptista [St John the Baptist] Church of Vila do Conde or, more simply, the Vila do Conde Parish Church, is an instance of 1500s architecture, certain features of which, such as the axial entrance, one of the most impressive of the Manueline period, make this temple one of the major Northern Portuguese buildings of that time. Gilt woodwork and brightly coloured sacred effigies balance the granitic coldness of the three naves, even though the combination of these two approaches does not always achieve the best results in terms of aesthetic harmony. 

In terms of interior decoration, the Baroque gilt woodwork altars and pulpit are especially noteworthy. The St John the Baptist main retable, a 1785 work by Flávio Gonçalves, occupies the 16th-century main chapel; the previous retable  (1740-1741) – of which certain elements still survive – came from a workshop that is generally described, without documental substantiation, as belonging to Porto master carver Manuel Pereira da Costa Noronha, the son of famous master carver Luís Pereira da Costa. The retable is structured by means of columns ornamented with floral motifs that run up them, while the attic's decoration possesses a formal compositive articulation that goes beyond the scenic approaches of previous times. 

The side altars in the transept, one consecrated to Our Lady of the Rosary (Gospel side) and the other to the Blessed Sacrament (Epistle side), share certain resemblances, even thought their tops are different, and can both be dated as from the mid-1700s.

Also in the transept are two chapels: the one on the Gospel side is dedicated to Our Lady of the Angels and the one on the Epistle side to Our Lady of Seafarers. In the latter, 17th-century azulejo tiles with two different designs create a backdrop for an altar, gilded and carved in the Portuguese Baroque style, that lends great colour to the space. The tile-covered walls are enriched by two 1600s ex-votos, one to Our Lady of the Safe Journey and the other to the Blessed Peter González Telmo. The retable in the Our Lady of the Angels chapel is carved in the same style, only with a different top section when compared with the transept's other chapel.

The side retables, which also display great affinities between themselves, were created during the reign of King João V (1706-1750). The theatrical quality of their top sections, with a valance and angels, lends them an impressive look, while the quality of their carving and elegant use of decorative motifs are also worthy of mention.

Quite striking is the massive bulk of the pulpit on the Gospel side; its wood is unpainted, and its balcony is decorated with fanciful beings on the corners and a putti-flanked Portuguese coat of arms. The quality of the woodwork extends to the balusters of the staircase that runs around the column, allowing access to the balcony. The pulpit's canopy is topped by an exquisitely sculpted effigy of St Michael the Archangel. The sacristy possesses a voluminous frame of Baroque woodwork from the 1600s/1700s, composed of putti and dense vegetation-inspired scrolls. 

The church also possesses a Neogothic pipe organ, the work of organ-maker A. J. Claro, a Braga native. The instrument, which is decorated with architectural motifs, dates from the early 20th century and was inaugurated in 1908. Also from the early 1900s are the stained-glass windows (1904) depicting the Last Supper, which were imported from Bordeaux, while another set (1906), featuring scenes from the life of St John the Baptist, came from Paris. 

Another important feature in this temple is, on the Epistle side, a small museological section featuring pieces from various neighbouring churches and chapels. Standing out from the collection are the textile and silver items, namely the Rococo processional cross created by Porto silversmith João Coelho de S. Paio (1719-1784) and the Neoclassical gilded silver monstrance from Vila do Conde's Santa Clara Convent, made in the early 1800s by Porto silversmith António Soares de Melo (1754-1821). (GVS)