The typo-morphological facade of the catholic churches of S. Miguel, Azores

Abstract

This paper intends to present the research results that comprised a comparative facade analysis of 41 parish and non-parish Catholic churches on the island of S. Miguel, Azores, built during the 18th and 19th centuries. The research highlights the existence of a facade typology expressed in the formal similarities between them. The matrix composition and the ornamental elements present on the 63 churches' facades were analysed and studied in detail in 41 churches, mapped and characterised by the elements that compose them. These are grouped into categories, allowing to establish and synthesise a typology, called the micaelense model facade, according to the composition principals present in the facades. The analysis method, the reading of the forms of the churches' facades, and the metric survey of these were based on old and current photographic records, supported by a comparative analysis elaborated and organised from tables and synthetic schemes systematised in vector drawings (graphic representations made in CAD).