Amarante: from a burned manor to the bridge: a self-guided walk
By Alleytale
A riverside town and the bridge it defended in 1809
In April 1809 French troops fought for the bridge at Amarante, and the manor, a house that was the French headquarters, the bridge and a palace across the river all carry traces of that fight, alongside the churches, convent ruins and museum of the old town.
The stops
The first section of the narrow-gauge Tâmega line, from Livração to Amarante, opened on 20 March 1909, and the last trains stopped on 25 March 2009. The Ecopista do Tâmega, a walking and cycling path, opened on 30 April 2011 on the old trackbed between Amarante and Arco de Baúlhe. In 1954 the station won an honourable mention in a national flower-garden competition.
Photo: Falk2 — CC BY 3.0 This was an 18th-century manor house, probably built by António de Magalhães Cerqueira, and French troops burned it in 1809. Portuguese Wikipedia calls it a symbol of resistance and says General Loison burned a noble house for each day the crossing of the Ponte de São Gonçalo was delayed. It was never rebuilt, so only the outer walls stand, with a ground-floor loggia of six arches, and a conversion into a Casa da Memória designed by Siza Vieira was inaugurated on 14 February 2025.
Photo: User:(WT-shared) Tiagox2 — CC BY-SA 3.0 The parish memoirs of 1758 describe this church with a huge forecourt, a façade with an image of the Virgin and no chancel. On its end wall stood three altars, Our Lady of Mercy in the middle, the Crucified on the right and the Ecce Homo opposite, each reached by stairs against the side walls and set apart from the nave by iron railings.
Photo: Joseolgon — CC BY-SA 4.0 This building served as the town hall, court and jail. Since 8 August 2025 it has housed Lugar Saudade, a place for the legacy of the poet Teixeira de Pascoaes, who was born in Amarante in 1877. It holds objects, documents, photographs, artworks and furniture that belonged to him. He is known as the poet-philosopher of saudade, and he is buried in the parish cemetery at Gatão.
Photo: Joseolgon — CC BY-SA 4.0 In 1626 the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Conception was set up to build this church, whose façade is Baroque. Inside, the case of the tube organ has angled sides and a row of false pipes that make the instrument look larger than it is. A major restoration of the organ was completed in 2015.
Photo: Joseolgon — CC BY-SA 4.0 Around 1220 Dona Mafalda, daughter of King Sancho I, founded a convent of Franciscan Clare nuns here, and the Count of Redondo had it rebuilt and enlarged in 1560. What remains are the ruins of the church and convent buildings and the portal of a Renaissance chapel flanked by a coat of arms. The library now stands on the old convent site.
Photo: Nmmacedo — CC BY-SA 3.0 This Baroque noble house on Rua Teixeira de Vasconcelos probably began in the 15th century and was deeply remodelled in the 18th. Its coat of arms sits on the corner of the main block, in a Baroque cartouche. The heritage inventory says that during the French Invasions it was the headquarters of General Loison's troops.
Photo: Joseolgon — CC BY-SA 4.0 The Venerable Third Order of Saint Dominic built this Baroque church, completed in 1725, which is also known as the Church of Nosso Senhor dos Aflitos. Its organ dates from 1868 and was built by José Joaquim da Fonseca of Porto. It now houses a museum of sacred art, and it stands beside the Church and Convent of São Gonçalo.
Photo: Joseolgon — CC BY-SA 4.0 This wall fountain beside the front of the São Gonçalo church dates from 1936, the year cut into its panel with the letters CMA. Its back wall is covered in tiles showing Amarante's coat of arms, made by the Fábrica do Carvalhinho of Vila Nova de Gaia, and the water runs from tubular spouts in the pilasters.
Photo: MIMICA2018 — CC BY-SA 4.0 The museum began with a fire in 1938 that destroyed a cinema in the convent's former chapter house, which led to a proposal for a library and museum, formalized in 1947. It holds collections of artists and writers born in Amarante, and in 1953 it opened rooms for António Carneiro, António Cândido and Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso. Since the 1980s it has occupied the convent, adapted by the architect Alcino Soutinho.
Photo: Joseolgon — CC BY-SA 4.0 Local tradition says the blessed Gonçalo built a first hermitage here in the early 13th century. In 1540 King João III and Queen Catarina decided to build a new church and Dominican convent, and works began in 1543 and ran into the 18th century. Gonçalo's tomb is to the right of the altar, and in the sacristy a tradition has visitors pull the cord at the waist of his image three times while making three wishes.
Photo: Ray Swi-hymn from Sijhih-Taipei, Taiwan — CC BY-SA 2.0 Portuguese Wikipedia says a Roman bridge probably stood here, and that local tradition credits Gonçalo de Amarante, around 1250, with building or rebuilding a bridge with alms. A flood made it collapse on 10 February 1763, and the present bridge, designed by Carlos Amarante, opened to traffic in 1790. From 18 April to 2 May 1809 Portuguese troops under Francisco da Silveira held the French under Loison on the far bank for almost two weeks.
Photo: Ray Swi-hymn from Sijhih-Taipei, Taiwan — CC BY-SA 2.0 This was built in the 16th century as one of the main palaces of the Conde do Redondo. In April 1809 Portuguese and English commands were stationed here, and the building was burned during the fighting. After a second fire in 1916 António do Lago Cerqueira restored it, keeping its baroque layout and adding neoclassical elements, and it is now a hotel.
Photo: Joseolgon — CC BY-SA 4.0
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