Showing 1-6 of 6 results
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Antigo Paço Episcopal
Facing the cathedral is the severe Antigo Paço Episcopal. Begun in the 14th century and enlarged in the 17th and 18th centuries, it's now home to university offices and the municipal library. A heavily carved, painted and gilded ceiling looks down on the library's computer room; this and the azulejos lining the main stairway are well worth a peek.
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Arco da Porta Nova
West of the old centre on Rua Dom Diogo de Sousa, the diminutive but elegant, 18th-century Arco da Porta Nova once served as the city's main gate. It bears the ostentatious coat of arms of the archbishop who commissioned it, Dom José de Bragança.
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Câmara Municipal
At the western end of neighbouring Praça do Município, Braga's Câmara Municipal sports one of Portugal's finest baroque façades, designed by André Soares da Silva. It's closed to the public, but worth seeing from the outside.
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Casa do Raio
The Casa do Raio is a more extrovert work by André Soares da Silva, with its rococo face covered in azulejos . Like the câmara municipal, it's closed to the public, but is still worth seeing from the outside.
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Cathedral
Braga's extraordinary Cathedral is the oldest in Portugal, begun when the archdiocese was restored in 1070 and completed in the following century. It's a rambling complex encompassing a jumble of architectural styles, and architectural buffs could spend half a day happily distinguishing the Romanesque bones from Manueline musculature and baroque frippery.
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Jardim de Santa Bárbara
Outside the spiky-topped, medieval north wing of the Archbishop's Palace is the 17th-century square known as Jardim de Santa Bárbara, with narrow paths picking their way through a sea of flowers and topiary. On sunny days, the adjacent pedestrianised streets Rua Justino Cruz and Rua Francisco Sanches fill with buskers and café tables.
Showing 1-6 of 6 results
