Parish Church of Santa Maria Mayor (Church of the virgin Mary) is located in the historic town of Chaves, near praça de Camoens. In 1997 the Church was included in the list of monuments of national importance.

It is a beautiful building built in the XII century Romanesque style. The Church is decorated with an elegant portal and is crowned by a belfry. After reconstruction works carried out in the XVI century, completely changed the view of the Church, the building has a Renaissance building – were built two beautiful portal. They are made in typical Renaissance style: clean lines, round arch supported by small columns and broken triangular pediment crowns the arch. The authorship side of the portal, which is decorated with carved busts of St. Peter and St. Paul, attributed to the sculptor joão noble, which was known for its special style of decoration is grotesque.

Like many medieval religious buildings, the Church's interior consists of three naves that are separated from each other by massive columns. The main chapel was rebuilt in the second half of the XVI century. The top of the tower is decorated with a statue of Jesus Christ, and the upper part of the facade is decorated with a different statue of the virgin Mary. The ascetic appearance of the temple inside give ordinary, without any decoration, stone walls.

It is worth noting that the first documentary records of St. Mary's Church date back to the year 1259. There is an assumption that the Church of the virgin Mary built on the site of a more ancient Visigothic Church. Unfortunately, today, from the medieval Church survived only the bell tower and the portal of the building.