Explore the best places
Heritage in Portugal
Palácio de Sant'Ana
- heritage
Rua José Jácome Correia
9500-077, Ponta Delgada
A building dating from the 19th century, currently the official residence of the Regional President of the Azores. Inside, highlights include some 18th and 19th-century furniture and a collection of tiles from old churches on the island.
Portas da Cidade de Ponta Delgada
- heritage
Praça de Gonçalo Velho
9500-063, Ponta Delgada
These gates represent the main entrance to Ponta Delgada and are the true landmark of the city. Their three imposing arches, built in the 18th century, open up to tourists everything that Ponta Delgada has to offer. Next to the City Gates stands the statue of Gonçalo Velho Cabral and the old buildings of the square bearing the navigator's name.
Forte de São Brás
- heritage
Rua Engenheiro Abel Ferin Coutinho, 10
9500-768, Ponta Delgada
Fort built in the 16th century and altered and expanded in the 19th century. With a polygonal base, it was designed by the Italian Tomaso Benedetti, featuring four bastions at the corners.
Capela de Nossa Senhora da Encarnação
- heritage
Rua Doutor Roberto Alves, 52
4520-220, Santa Maria da Feira
This chapel is attached to the walls of Feira Castle, having been built in 1656 by order of the Countess of Feira, D. Joana Forjaz Pereira de Meneses e Silva. It is a learned building, with a hexagonal section, revealing the influence of important centrally planned chapels in the region. Inside, the floor forms a radial design from the center, and there are gilded altarpieces on five walls. Attached to the chapel is the chaplain's house.
Museu do Papel Terras de Santa Maria
- heritage
Rua do Rio Maior, 338
4535-301, Paços de Brandão
In this space, housed in a former sugar mill founded in 1822, you will learn about the history of the paper industry. The collections encompass the entire municipality of Santa Maria da Feira, where the paper industry has been a fundamental driver of the economy since 1708. In addition to artifacts and machinery, the watermark exhibition will highlight the different types of watermarks created by paper manufacturers in the Santa Maria region. Among the vast documentary collection, the collection of different paper qualities stands out, as well as watermarked papers from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, representative of the …
Castro de Romariz
- heritage
Rua do Castro
3700-812, Romariz
Enjoying an excellent state of preservation, the Castro de Romariz is a fortified settlement dating from the 5th century BC, with occupation levels extending to the 1st century AD, and is considered one of the most significant archaeological sites in the Entre Douro e Vouga region. It was identified in the mid-19th century with the discovery of a monetary treasure: the Romariz treasure. After a long period of abandonment, a new phase of systematic archaeological work began in 1980, studying the origins and evolution of the hillfort, identifying the various phases of proto-historic and Roman occupation. It is necessary to …
Igreja Matriz de Santa Maria da Feira e Convento dos Lóios
- heritage
Rua Doutor Santos Carneiro, 7
4520-181, Santa Maria da Feira
This is a Mannerist convent with a church in the shape of a Latin cross, a single nave, and a two-story cloister. Due to its characteristics, it fits into the typology of the monumental 17th-century churches of classicist and erudite style in the Porto region. The tilework in the chancel and transept is also from the 17th century, and the main altarpiece is Baroque, in the National Style, with Baroque side altarpieces from the time of King Pedro II, at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. In the center of the convent courtyard there was a Baroque fountain, …
Castelo de Santa Maria da Feira
- heritage
Alameda Doutor Roberto Vaz Oliveira
4520-141, Santa Maria da Feira
A Gothic castle, imposing and austere, where the summit towers with spires and four pinnacles stand out as ornamentation. The walls are protected by crenellated embrasures and loopholes. Outside the walls, it is worth visiting the Chapel of Our Lady of the Incarnation and the Chaplaincy House, in 17th-century Baroque style. The population moved to the vicinity of the castle attracted by the trade of goods that took place there, giving rise to the current city.
Museu de Santa Maria de Lamas
- heritage
Largo da Igreja, 90 - Parque de Santa Maria de Lamas
4535-412, Santa Maria de Lamas
Surrounded by beautiful gardens populated with statues and sculptures, the Santa Maria de Lamas Museum was founded in 1950 and renovated in 2005. It comprises sixteen rooms and a remarkable collection of permanent exhibitions. There you will find rooms dedicated to sacred art, the cork industry, furniture, ethnography, statuary, natural sciences, ceramics, and curiosities. The museum's educational service conducts educational activities aimed at different age groups, focusing on raising awareness of art and cultural heritage.
Museu Convento dos Lóios
- heritage
Praça Doutor Guilherme Alves Moreira
4520-170, Santa Maria da Feira
The Lóios Convent Museum is a regional museum that hosts temporary exhibitions of national and international interest, and where you can also appreciate the permanent exhibition in the areas of Painting, Archaeology, History and Art History, explaining the origin of Man, evolution and development of the Lands of Santa Maria. Donations resulting from official acts or actions in the political life of the municipality are also on display.