Church of São Bento - Church of San Benito

The Church of San Benito is next to the County Administrative Building, opposite the park surrounding the historic medieval Citadel. This church belonged to a, now extinct, Benedictine convent, founded in 1590 by Maria Teixeira, a noble lady of the city, and it has her shield on the facade. It has a single, rectangular nave with choir loft. Outwardly it doesn't attract much attention, except the shield and the Mannerist style, granite, facade with a niche containing a sculpture of San Benito. What's really nice is the inside, especially the impressive Mayor altarpiece (XVIII century), carved and embossed with gilt, vaulted ceilings and a wood splint entirely covered with frescoes of biblical scenes, by Manuel Caetano Fortuna.