Praça da República

The fine Praça da República is at the heart of the city's well-preserved zone of mansions and monuments. Especially elegant is the praça's Chafariz, a Renaissance fountain built in 1554 by João Lopes the Elder. It's topped with Manueline motifs of an armillary sphere and the cross of the Order of Christ.

The fortresslike Antigos Paços do Concelho is the old town hall - another 16th-century creation. The striking former Misericórdia almshouse was designed in 1589 by João Lopes the Younger, its loggias supported by monster caryatids. The adjoining Igreja de Misericórdia was rebuilt in 1714 and is adorned with some of Portugal's finest azulejos by the master António de Oliveira Bernardes and his son Policarpo.