history
Fazenda is a civil parish in the municipality of Lajes das Flores, on the island of Flores (Azores), covering 9.43 km² and home to 261 inhabitants (2021). It lies around 2 km from the town of Lajes das Flores, with which it forms a continuous built-up area, and extends almost in a straight line along the road towards Santa Cruz das Flores; a significant share of the municipality's public services is located here. Settled since the early decades of the sixteenth century, Fazenda das Lajes received the curacy of Senhor Santo Cristo in 1904 and was established as a civil parish by Law no. 915 of 9 December 1919, the last parish to be created on the island; the ecclesiastical parish followed in 1959. The Igreja do Senhor Santo Cristo (Church of Senhor Santo Cristo), with its gilded carved altarpiece, was built between 1896 and 1904 and blessed in 1906. Also of note are the Casa do Divino Espírito Santo (1868), the monument to the physician António de Freitas Pimentel, and several public fountains and water mills of municipal interest. Between 1965 and 1977, a LORAN station operated in the parish on behalf of the Navy. The main festivities are the Festas do Divino Espírito Santo at Pentecost, the Festa de São Pedro on the weekend closest to 29 June, and the feast of the patron saint, the Festa do Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres, on the first weekend of August.
