Pêra () is a former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the municipality of Silves, Portugal.Detail Regional Map, Algarve- Southern Portugal, In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Alcantarilha e Pêra. The village is south east of Silves and is south south east of

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. The village used to be called Pêra de Cima or Upper Pêra to distinguish it from the present Armação de Pêra, which was then named Pêra de Baixo (Lower Pêra).Silves, Tourist Guide to the town and Borough, By J.D. Garcia Domingues,: Empresa Litográfica Do Sul, S.A.

Description

Pêra is located a little south of the N125 coast road and is linked to

Albufeira Albufeira (, ), officially the City of Albufeira (), is a List of cities in Portugal, city and Concelho, municipality of Faro District in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2021 was 44,158, in an area of . The city proper ...

by the old municipal road Estr EN526. Pêra has benefited from the road by-pass built several years back which diverted most of the traffic away from the village which often brought it to a standstill. The narrow streets of the village were only ever intended to accommodate pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicles. The International Sand Sculpture Festival (FIESA) is held annually in the parish. The parish of Pêra has within its boundaries the villages of *Arroteies *Benagaia *Fonte Negra *Louriga *Mesquita *Monte Raposo *Relvas *Rogel *São Lourenço *Sentieiras *Torrinha *Vale de Margem *Vales

Parish Church

The patron of the village is the Divine

Holy Ghost Most Christian denominations believe the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, to be the third divine Person of the Trinity, a triune god manifested as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each being God. Nontrinitarian Christians, who ...

. Pêra main parish church was built in the 18th century and has a single

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and a simple

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

.Guide to the cultural heritage of the Algarve
By Turismo of Portugal:Algarve, The highlight of the church is the altarpiece with a

pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

-shaped throne in the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style which is located at the end of the chancel. Also from the Baroque period are the side altarpiece, as well as those in the Chapels of Nossa Senhora do Rosário (Our lady of the Rosary) and Sagrado Coracão de Jesus (Sacred Heart of Jesus). Both these chapels have statues which date from the 18th century. The church also possesses interesting figurative tiles in the chancel which depict the four evangelists, Matthew,

Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

, Luke and

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

Nature Reserve

from the village to southeast, close to the beach, there are some marshes by the name of the Lagoa dos Salgados. The salt marshes are a refuge for many varieties of waterfowl and has a rich abundance of vegetation.Observação de aves na lagoa dos Salgados (Pera)
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References

Villages in the Algarve Former parishes of Silves, Portugal {{Faro-geo-stub