The House of Mercy of Lourinha: Contributions to the history of construction in the early 17th century

Between 1618 and 1623, the House of Mercy of Lourinha underwent a construction campaign that gave rise to the current building. The work was prompted not only by the ruin of the building, but also by the need to adapt it to new use, as the Confraternity of Mercy had their own dynamics. The exact work is not specified but, based on data from historical documentation, it seems to have involved enlargement of the old building. The intervention had an architectural nature in which local professionals and materials were used, but the project was not thus restricted. The central source for research was the income and expense books, an important source on the history of the construction. These documents are virtually unexplored, as they were integrated into a private archive. They allow us to characterise and analyse this campaign of works and its diverse components from the perspective of the construction history.