History
More than 600 years ago, in the mid-fourteenth century, a chapel was built to store an image of the Virgin, venerated long on the rock where it was found. Around the chapel were growing modest homes to receive the pilgrims who demanded here, giving later, in 1715, place to the construction of houses and inns with shops, also known as Casas dos Círios.
To the chapel arrived several and numerous groups of Círios (large groups of pilgrims).
It's to the, so called, Círio Saloio (a group of pilgrims from nearby the capital) that fit the encouragement of the construction of the sanctuary, as can be read on a plaque on the wall of the inn on the south side: "Casas de N. Sra. de Cabo feitas por conta do Sírio dos Saloios no ano de 1757 p. acomodação dos mordomos que vierem dar bodo".
Legend
In the thirteenth century, the place was very popular within the pilgrims, after a man had a vision of a great light that shone on the Cape. There arrived, he would have seen Our Lady rising on the back of a mule through the rock above.
The tracks actually correspond to various fossilized tracks left by dinosaurs in Jurassic period.
Architectural ensemble of the Sanctuary
The Church of Our Lady of the Cape, from the seventeenth century, has his back to the sea. The church interior is decorated with baroque paintings, ex-votos and frescos. Inside the church, there is also an Organ, whose characteristics are from the end of the 18th century / beginning of the 19th century, possibly made in the workshop of Joaquim António Peres Fontanes.
On each side of the church, there is a row of accommodation for pilgrims, called the Casa dos Círios, which form the Terreiro, in the background one can see a cross.
Near the church is the Ermida da Memória, a domed chapel, with panels of blue and white tiles in its interior. Outside are two pictures of tiled images that are too degraded.
Next to the Casa dos Círios are the ruins of the "Opera House", built in 1770. It was designed to provide cultural activities, especially theater, to the pilgrims and revelers, having been used in shows promoted by the royal family, which also remained in the sanctuary throughout the period of pilgrimage. In its stage, came to act the greatest artists and theater groups in Europe, especially Italians, having the building the needed support divisions that ensured the permanence of these groups during the festivities.
Outside the Sanctuary itself, but still within it's area of domain, is the House of Water and the Aqueduct of Cape Espichel, very important for the Sanctuary, since it was the source of the drinking water.
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