The magical and religious vocation of our territory has, over time, revealed itself as one of its most defining characteristics. From the megalithic landscapes of prehistory, through Greco-Roman antiquity and the Middle Ages, the mystical promontory, now known as Cape St Vincent, has established itself as a place of strong spiritual significance. The earliest written references to the Mediterranean finisterre date back to the 6^th century BC, owing to pioneering maritime explorations carried out by ancient Greek navigators. Beyond the “Pillars of Hercules”, the name by which the Strait of Gibraltar was known, these explorers ventured into a mysterious sea until they reached the end of the known world, being owed to these epic argonauts the discovery of our land. Last frontier of the unknown ocean, the Cape was then ‘baptised’ as Hieron Akroterion, a Greek name later translated into Latin as Promunturium Sacrum, and into Portuguese as Promontório Sagrado. Meanwhile, during the period of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula, the Cape was known as Tarf al-Gharb. As for the toponym “Sagres”, this stems from a linguistic heritage with origins in the Latin word Sacrum and the Arabic word Xaqris. 

According to Catholic tradition, the ancient Sacred Promontory is said to have housed, around the year 778, the relics of the martyr Vincent of Zaragoza, transferred from Valencia during the Umayyad Caliphate’s invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. At that time, there is said to have existed on the landscapes of the Promontory, since then known as Cape St Vincent, a temple dedicated to the cult of Saint Vincent, an hermitage known among the Arabs as Kanisat al-Gurab, and as the Hermitage of the Crows amongst the Mozarabic Christians, one of the most popular sanctuaries on the Catholic pilgrimage routes of the Iberian Peninsula, a hundred years before the emergence of the cult of Santiago de Compostela. In 1173, at the behest of Afonso Henriques, the first King of Portugal, the relics of Saint Vincent were transferred once again, this time to Lisbon. A small bone of the saint remained in Sagres, meanwhile embedded in a silver reliquary which is currently kept at the Parish Church of Vila do Bispo, being object of great devotion amongst the Local Community ...