Palace Duques de Bragança, Guimarães Castle & Church of S. Miguel
Website(public bathroom around the corner)Open between 9am & 8pm - Buy joint ticket: Alberto Sampaio Museum , Palace of the Dukes of Bragança and Guimarães Castle — €8.00The Palace of the Dukes of Braganza was constructed on the orders of Afonso de Barcelos, an illegitimate son of King João I, in the early 15th century from about 1420.Afonso was later to become the first Duke of Braganza. Afonso's successors resided here until they moved to the much grander and larger Vila Viçosa Ducal Palace near Elvas and Estremoz from the early 16th century onwards.The design of the Paço dos Duques de Bragança was based on French manor houses of the period.Between the 16th and 19th centuries the palace fell into semi-ruin and many of its building stones were taken away to be used for other purposes.During the Estado Novo period under Salazar, a reconstruction by the architect Rogério de Azevedo was completed between 1937 and 1959 which conferred a grandeur on the property which it probably never possessed. Indeed, it is believed the original building was not complete when the Duke decamped to Vila Viçosa.
Largo do Toural - Central Meeting Square of the City - Shopping
Largo do Toural is one of the most central and important squares in the Portuguese city of Guimarães . Starting in the 17th century as a place for the sale of oxen and other goods.Considered today as the heart of the city, it was in the 17th century an extramural square next to the main gate of the town, where the cattle fair and others of different products were held.In 1791, the City Council cleared the land next to the wall for the construction of buildings, which were later built according to a plan possibly coming from Lisbon, and thus the beginning of the slow transformation of the Toural was determined. In the second half of the century, the Public Garden was built, surrounded by an iron railing, which opened in 1878. For this space, urban furniture was created, framed in the new iron architecture: bandstand, urinal, benches and lamps. With the establishment of the Republic, the Public Garden was transferred to another location, and the statue of D. Afonso Henriques was placed in the center of the Toural, now remodelled. A few years later this one goes to Parque do Castelo and is replaced by a showy Artistic Fountain
Citânia de Briteiros
Ancient RuinsThe site was probably constructed between the first and second century BCE.[2] Notes by Martins Sarmento and from recent explorations show that the Monte de São Romão was a favoured location for rock art engravings of the Atlantic Bronze Age,[1] in the beginning of the first millennium BCE;[2][3] it is not known when or why this first group left. Numerous early engraved rock surfaces were destroyed when many boulders were cut to build the ramparts and family compounds as the Castro settlement grew. Little is known of the beginnings of the Castro occupation, as no structures from the late Bronze Age have been found. Pottery from the early Iron Age has been found, when the settlement would already have been fortified. The majority of the ruins visible today have been dated from the second Iron Age, especially the last two centuries BCE.[1]The Castro inhabitants are believed to have been Celtic.[4][5] Approximately half the pre-Latin toponyms of Gallaecia were Celtic, while the rest were either non Celtic western Indo-European, or mixed toponyms containing Celtic and non-Celtic elements.[6]Sometime in the first century AD the settlement was occupied by Roman settlers.[2] Expansion of the Roman Empire into the region has left evidence in the oppidum at Briteiros, in the form of coins (those of Augustus and Tiberius are the most numerous found, with smaller numbers of coins of the Republic, and the Flavians and the Antonines) ranging from the 1st century BCE to the 2nd century CE. A small number of amphorae and red pottery pieces have been found, and there is some evidence of Romanization in the architecture of the alleys and buildings of the eastern slope, but overall the visible impact of Roman occupiers is not strong.[1] The reduced number of later coin and pottery finds suggests that occupation of the oppidum was declining from the 1st century CE, resulting in the 2nd century with very few people living within the ramparts. Evidence shows that there was a transitory reoccupation in the High Middle Ages, which included the building of a medieval chapel and graveyard on the acropolis.[1]
Chafariz da Praça da República - Park Here and Walk in downtown City
The Praça da República Fountain is located in the eastern part of Praça da República (formerly Praça da Rainha), in front of the old Paços do Concelho, in the parish of Viana do Castelo (Santa Maria Maior and Monserrate) and Meadela , in the municipality and district of Viana do Castelo , in Portugal . 1553It was built, or at least completed in 1559, being the work of the master stonemason João Lopes "the old man" the same one that a few years earlier had built the Caminha fountain and, most likely, some of the similar fountains that we can find in Galician cities such as Pontevedra, It was for several centuries the point of supply of drinking water for the Viana population and, due to its monumentality and location, one of the urban references of the borough.
Museu Pio XII
WebsiteMuseum opening times(including the Medina Gallery and Medieval Tower): From Tuesday to Saturday, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 to 6 p.m.The Pius XII Museum was founded in 1957 by Canon Luciano Afonso dos Santos, a priest fascinated by history and heritage, who in his free time would wander through the archdiocese of Braga in search of treasures hidden in sacristies and rocks that may have helped to better explain the origins of the communities.
Sé de Braga - Braga Cathedral
WebsiteOpen everyday: 9:30 am – 12:30 pm, 2:30 pm – 5:30 pm (6:30 pm in summer)
Igreja da Misericórdia de Braga
The Church of Mercy of BragaThe Misericórdia Church appears in some plans of the Cathedral as an annex, but in fact it constitutes a distinct monument. It is a temple built in 1562, but much modified in the 19th century. XVIII.Of sober ornamentation, it still preserves good examples of Renaissance architecture, namely the façade and the side portal that presents, in the upper part, a scene of the "Visitation", a quality work of the 16th century sculpture school of Coimbra.Inside, it is worth noting the baroque carved altarpiece and the painted wooden ceiling covering. The altarpiece was executed by Marcelino de Araújo, between 1734 and 1739, and includes a panel painted by José Lopes, in 1735. Although it has a religious theme, it has courtly characteristics, representing several family members of D. João V, the Queen and her children. .On the high altar, we can still see an image of Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia, a work by the sculptor José António Gonçalves dated 1774.This 16th century church is Braga's most important legacy of the renaissance period.
Archbishops Court - Santa Barbara Garden
Archbishop's Palace Of Braga Address: Praca Mun., 4820-142 Braga, PortugalThe Episcopal Palace or the Archbishop's Palace Of Braga is a Portuguese palace in the civil parish. Nestled in between the Praça do Municipio and the Santa Barbara garden, the Archbishop's Palace Of Braga is one of the most significant landmarks of the state with its three historic interconnected buildings.Each of the buildings boasts of their distinct character influenced by the era they were built in.The 14th-15th century Eastern Wing with medieval Gothic architecture overlooks the garden.The Paço Square formed by the South Wing dating back to the 16th, the 17th and the 18th century.Final Wing also catches attention. The Final Wing has Baroque Styled architecture and houses many books and district archives.
Biscainhos Museum
WebsiteHours: Saturday, 10AM–12:30PM, 2–5:30PM, Sunday, 10AM–12:30PM, 2–5:30PMThe Museum of Biscaínhos is located in a beautiful residential Palace of a form noble family, who built it in the 17th century. This wonderful example of civil Barroque architecture style demonstrates what Baroque society was like in a noble residence with the original state of the various buildings preserved. In the house, there is an exhibition of 17th and 18th century art mostly built up from private donations of Baroque furniture and ceramics, Chinese porcelain, European glasswork, silverware, textiles in addition to Portuguese and European paintings. The gardens, inspired by 18th century French fashions, are some of the best preserved and most complete examples of the Baroque period.The Gardens, facing the rear façade, were presumably defined within the scope of the major works to expand and enhance the House, in the second decade of the 18th century.They are organized in an east-west direction, on three levels or levels and with an area of 1 hectare, divided into a terreiro, formal garden, the orchard and the vegetable garden, the whole being topped by walls. On the side, the property includes a sugarcane field, a dovecote and an alley of orange trees.
Capela de S. Frutuoso - Museum
About the BuildingOpen 2pm-430pm everyday except mondayThe small chapel of Montélios owes its existence to São Frutuoso, bishop of Dume and Braga during the Visigothic period, who chose to be buried here in the 60s of the 7th century. This Visigothic chapel seems to have been inspired by the Byzantine Mausoleums. Its interior can be considered a true example of Islamic architecture. Around it there was a much larger monastic ensemble, the religious center of the region in this period, but which probably succumbed, most likely in the early 16th century, when the Franciscans carried out the rebuilding of the Monastery.
