Restaurants, bars and museums in Porto · Page 133

Paço Episcopal do Porto

Ribeira · Sights & Landmarks

Paço Episcopal do Porto, the Episcopal Palace of Porto, stands at Terreiro da Sé, 4050-573 Porto, in the Ribeira neighbourhood. It occupies a high elevation near Porto Cathedral and forms part of the historical centre of Porto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the residence of the bishops of Porto and also serves as a cultural exhibition space. Its architecture is an example of late Baroque and Rococo civil building in the city. An earlier palace was built here in the 12th or 13th century, and Romanesque-style windows inside the present building attest to this. In 1387 that medieval palace witnessed the marriage of John I of Portugal and Philippa of Lancaster. In the 16th and 17th centuries it was greatly enlarged, and an old drawing shows a series of towered buildings, typical of Portuguese manor houses of the time. The present palace comes from a radical rebuilding in the 18th century. It is believed that the Italian Nicolau Nasoni drew the project in 1734. Building work started in 1737 under the architect Miguel Francisco da Silva and proceeded slowly. Financial constraints forced a reduction of the original plan. The works finished in the last decades of the 18th century under Bishop Rafael de Mendonça, whose coat-of-arms is on the main portal and on the monumental inner staircase. Bishops lived in the palace until the 19th century. During the Siege of Porto of 1832 the bishop fled, and the troops of Peter IV used the building as a stronghold against Miguel I. From 1916 to 1956 it housed the Municipality of Porto. The palace is rectangular, with a courtyard in the middle. The main façade is painted white, with three rows of windows and a central portal in dark granite. The higher windows have varied Rococo frames, and the portal carries a balcony. Inside, a long vestibule leads to the staircase, the highlight of the interior. Attributed to Nasoni, it has a first flight of steps followed by a U-shaped stair. Wall paintings and stucco in neoclassical style, made between the 18th and 19th centuries, decorate the room. A glass dome added in that century gives it abundant light. One visitor account says the interior has been restored to show the palace as it looked in the late 1700s and early 1800s. It mentions a throne room with original 18th-century furniture and heavy silk wall coverings, and ceiling frescoes on themes of wisdom, peace and the prosperity of the city. Tickets cost 4 euro for the palace, or 7 euros combined with the Cathedral. The palace is open every day from 09:00 to 13:00 and from 14:00 to 18:00.

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