It was rebuilt in the ninth century, during the reign of Ben Bekr, prince of a small Muslim kingdom which became independent of the Emirate of Córdoba.

During the Almohad period they were erected two towers albarrã one of the main entrances, set now known as “Arc rest”.

With the conquest of the city by the forces of Afonso III of Portugal (1249), its walls were rebuilt. At this stage, the urban fabric corresponded to two distinct areas:

the so-called “Vila Adentro” (now the parish of Santa Maria), where were located the worship, the Jewish Quarter and the homes of Christians; and the “Ribeira”, residential area of ​​social class higher level.

In the current downtown installed the Mouraria, where since 1269, the Moors were forced to reside.

Later, under King John III of Portugal, this determined, in 1541, to repair the walls of Faro. These would, however, severely punished when the invasion Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1596), and immediately begun its repair, which lasted for decades.

The primitive portal served as a model to the current Ermida de Nossa Senhora do Repouso – Chapel of Our Lady of Rest. The original building has undergone profound remodeling, emphasizing participation in these works of Diogo Tavares and Ataíde, the most prestigious master mason Algarve eighteenth century. These works lasted to the late seventeenth century.

Inside, we highlight the altars of the chancel and side altars, the coating on cruise summit of the hoist and the tiles that cover the dome ousia and the four Italian paintings commissioned by the Bishop of the Algarve D. Francisco Gomes the Avelar, in 1792, and in particular “Death of S. Francisco” painted in Rome by Marcello Leopardi.

The construction of the convent lasted for over forty years, with the royal patronage of the Queens Leonor grantee City and Manuel I woman, from 1519 to 1525 and of Queen Catherine, wife of King João III from 1529 to 1550. The most active phase of the yard, had the architect Afonso Pires and from 1561 to 1564, under the Diogo Pires orders. The convent is to highlight the Renaissance style, with a Manueline church and baroque dome.

Extinguished the religious orders in 1834, the convent passed to the hand of individuals, including having served facilities of a factory of cork stoppers, in the early twentieth century.

However a National Monument, the town bought the building in 1960 for installation of the Library and Municipal Museum.

Despite the looting carried out by British troops of the Earl of Essex (who also attempted against other buildings in Faro in 1596) and the 1755 earthquake is one of the best examples of the first Renaissance in the Algarve.