The ramparted walls suggest the possibility that this was the old Armed Guards of Alcoutim, possibly renovated by the military engineers by the late seventeenth century and beginning of the eigthteenth century, in order to adapt to new military functions. It is recorded in the drawings of the military engineer José de Sande Vasconcelos, from the late eigthteenth century.

The early matrix church was built in the mid-fourtheenth century and had one single aisle. In the second half of the sexteenth century, the church’s rebuilding was sponsored by the Counts of Alcoutim and acquired three aisles, four bays, and curved abacus capitals. The main portal, the columns, the bases and the capitals came from Tavira and are believed to have been made at the workshop of master-mason André Pilarte.

This temple is one of the prime examples of Early Renaissance in the Algarve.

Templo construído no século XVI. Possuía capela-mor e um altar com pintura a imitar o mármore, do tempo de D. João VI.

No seu no interior existe uma pedra sepulcral com a seguinte inscrição “SEPULTURA DE MARTIM VILÃO E SUA MULHER (E) HERDEIROS – ERA DE 1513 – O PRIMEIRO SEPULTADO NESTA CASA. PADRE NOSSO – AVÉ MARIA”.

Junto à porta principal possui uma placa indicando a altura a que chegou a água do rio Guadiana aquando das grandes cheias em 1876.

The date of Foundation is unknown. The records mention it is very ancient and named it Church of Saint Mary. It is a single aisle temple, the dome ending in a blind skylight covering the section that corresponds to the apse.

During the second decade of the sixteenth century, the Counts of Alcoutim sponsored a few renovation works. The manueline portal is what remains from those works.

At the end of the seventeenth century, beginning of the eighteenth century, the exterior space of the church was reformulated by military engineers with a view to connecting the temple to the town.

In the high altar, notice the beautiful baroque altarpiece dating from the second half of the seventeenth century, composed of twisted columns surrounding the statue of Our Lady of Conception, and also the hispanic-arabic tiles that cover the frontispiece of the altar table.