Convent of Nossa Senhora do Carmo (Horta)

Its construction began in the 17th century, specifically in 1652, under the influence of D. Helena de Boim, wife of the captain-major Francisco Gil da Silveira. After the construction of a chapel, dedicated to the invocation of Nossa Senhora da Boa Nova (Our Lady of Good News), D. Helena de Boim decided to create a hospice, in order to lodge Carmelite friars, that included round-trips through the kingdom to the States of Brazil and Maranhão. By the time of the 1926 earthquake its role had changed significantly, and continued in the possession of the Ministry of Defense to the present, functioning as a military post, thereby affecting its use as a tourist landmark. The church is since 2021 the headquarters of the Horta's Sacred Art Museum, a museum that holds the largest collection of sacred art in the Azores, with a collection of objects dated since the 13th until the early 20th century, having in display a fine collection of Flemish sculptures and others in the context of local religious institutions and private collections, gilded woodcarvings, portuguese tiles (Azulejo), sacred furniture, liturgical jewellery and furnishings. ==Architecture==

The church and convent is situated in a courtyard consisting of a large rectangular platform, whose principal access (almost to the front of the principal facade) is along the Travessa do Carmo (a staircase of large cobblestone rises). The principal facade includes to bell towers and is divided into three floors decorated in cornice. The towers, are delimited by a central section with pilasters, corresponding to the lateral corps and surmounted by bulbous copulas over octagonal base. There are four sections on all floors, with the last one occupied by the belfry. The central part, corresponds to the nave, and there are three sections per floor (with the doorways on the ground floor decorated in archways) and surmounted by a cut frontispiece with decorated tympanum. There is an inscription on the archway entrance to the left part of the church, that reads 1838. On the same floor as the facade are two porticos that provided access to the primitive convent. To the right lateral facade there is a rectangular corp, one-storey in height, with three sections, decorated in cornice. The left lateral facade (behind the military entranceway the compound) are elements of the old cloister. The church of the old Convent of Carmo comprises a single nave to a narrower chancel, covered in a vaulted ceiling, and two lateral bodies marked by two chapels. Access the convent and the pulpits are provided from the false transepts. The lateral chapels are surmounted by cornice topped by rectangular openings, with guards). The archways that correspond to the false transepts end at a cornice that mark the beginning of the vaulted ceiling. A high-choir exists on the extreme nave opposite the main altar. Among various retables in gilded woodwork, is the one on the side of the epistole, which have characteristics that Joanino, framed by an investment of figurative azulejo tile that is equally Joanino in character. ==References==