Porto History, Architecture, and Art

Overview

Visit the prettiest bookshop in the World with a unique architectural detail building dating back to 1906. Alongside iconic features, find artistic installations and exhibitions that contribute to the mission of valuing books and authors.     

Stop at a 19th-century Neoclassical building designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Marvel with the Salao Arabe, a masterpiece of Moorish Revival architecture that dazzles visitors with ornate gilded stuccowork, decorated ceilings, stained-glass windows, and wood floors inlaid with geometric patterns.      

Time to stop at the most prominent Gothic monument in Porto noted for its outstanding Baroque interior decoration.   Pay a visit to one of Porto's leading cultural venues, designed by the architect Rem Koolhaas, conceived to cater to an innovative artistic project of Porto 2001-European Capital of Culture.

This daringly original building exhibits bold architecture, extraordinary infrastructure quality, and dynamic, creative, and prestigious programming. Time to stop at the first large-scale contemporary art museum in Portugal. Walk around the grounds of the Foundation, home to a park dotted with both classical statues and pop art sculpture, an art deco villa, and the contemporary art museum—a low-slung U-shaped white structure designed to mesh with the low, rolling landscape by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Álvaro Siza Vieira.