Category: Civil Architecture > Museum
District: Faro > Alcoutim > São Martinho
The Menhirs of Lavajo are situated in the picturesque locality of São Martinho, in the municipality of Alcoutim, a notable area in the interior of the Algarve. This megalithic complex stands on a small hill, at an altitude of 155 meters, providing a rural and isolated environment. Its elevated position allows for a wide perspective over the valley and the Lavajo ravine, blending into the serene landscape of the region, not far from the Spanish border, marked by the Guadiana River.
Visiting the Menhirs of Lavajo is a journey back in time to the distant Megalithic Era, around 3500 BC. These stone monuments are testimonies to ancestral communities that inhabited these lands, using them for purposes believed to be of a religious or symbolic nature. The site suggests a probable alignment of menhirs, indicating a profound organization and meaning for the peoples who erected them millennia ago, and today it stands as a historical-cultural landmark.
The complex consists of three remarkable menhirs, carved from greywacke, a resistant rock that has endured through the centuries. The largest menhir, known as Lavajo I, rises to about 3.14 meters in height, exhibiting a distinctive phallic shape. Its surface, dark grey with a brownish patina, features carefully engraved decorations: small hollows (fossetes) arranged along a groove and circular patterns, among other symbolic elements. The other two menhirs, though more modest in size, also bear fossetes and, in one case, a unique dotted circle, revealing the rock art of those distant times.
The site of the Menhirs of Lavajo offers a setting of tranquility and connection with nature. The isolated position of the complex, atop the hill, invites contemplation of the surrounding landscape, characterized by the typical vegetation of the Algarve interior. It is a place where the grandeur of the ancient structures merges with the vastness of the sky and the silence of the countryside, providing an immersive experience in the history and natural beauty of the Alcoutim region.
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.pt
Coordinates DD: 37.5014375,-7.5350156
Coordinates DMS: 37°30'5.2"N 07°32'6.1"W
Weather São Martinho
On-duty Pharmacy São Martinho
