Hi there my Hivean friends and followers!
Welcome to my special weekly series called Beauties of Azores that was created by me to raise awareness of the extraordinary charm of a captivating Portuguese archipelago known as the Azores.
A vast majority of the previous episodes of this series was dedicated to the natural beauty of the Azores Islands but today, we will take a look at an impressive man-made landmark (that is, however, still fully surrounded by the stunning Azorean nature).
The landmark that this post will be about is called the Chapel of Nostra Senhora das Vitorias and it´s one of the most beautiful and interesting pieces of religious architecture I have seen here on the Sao Miguel Island so far.
There are two things that make this chapel so unique and remarkable. It´s the Neo-Gothic / Neo-Romanesque appearance that is actually very different from what most other churches on the island look like and it´s also the very special location as the chapel was built right on the shore of the magnificent Furnas Lake.
The story behind this beautiful chapel is also very interesting. It was built by Jose do Canto (prominent Azorean botanist, intellectual and landowner) as the resting place for his beloved and, unfortunately, terminally ill wife Maria (her full name was Maria Guilhermina Taveira Brum do Canto).
The construction of the chapel began in the 1860s and it was inaugurated in 1886. Just 12 years later, in 1898, Jose do Canto died too and he was buried alongside with his beloved Maria.
During their lives, Jose and Maria spent a lot of time in their summer house that is located right next to the chapel. The Furnas Lake and its natural surrounding is just breathtakingly beautiful so I can definitely understand why they loved this place so much that they even wanted to be buried there. This is a view of the lake that you can enjoy when standing in front of the chapel.
The Chapel of Nostra Senhora das Vitorias is certainly one of the most interesting architectural pieces on the Sao Miguel Island, at least for me.
The Furnas region is often shrouded in a thick fog and the silhouette of the chapel, towering above the lake in the fog, gives this place a very special, somewhat mysterious atmosphere. We were actually lucky to have a nice sunny weather when visiting the lake but I can imagine what it looks like there in eerier weather conditions.
I hope you enjoyed this episode of my Beauties of Azores series that was dedicated to the Chapel of Nostra Senhora das Vitorias, an amazing architectural landmark found on the Sao Miguel Island. All of the photos featured in this post were taken by me. For more pictures and information about the Furnas Lake, feel free to check out this post that I published on my blog a few weeks ago.
If you want to learn more about this exquisite Portuguese archipelago and its charms, stay tuned for the next episodes of my Beauties of Azores series ;)
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