Viana do Castelo: from the river-mouth fort to the old square: a self-guided walk
By Alleytale
A port town on the Lima, from the sea gate to the old square
Viana was a town of the river and the sea, so the walk moves from a fort and a cod-fishing ship to the old square, where the council and the church built in stone.
The stops
This fort stands on the bar of the Lima, built to defend the anchorage and the village of Viana da Foz. The city council ordered a small fort here in the late 1560s, and it was remodeled and expanded between 1589 and 1596 to a design by the Italian engineer Filippo Terzi. Note the pentagon plan and the wide bridge over a moat that leads to the round-arched portal.
Photo: Hugo Ferreira — CC BY-SA 4.0 The Viana do Castelo shipyards launched this ship on 20 March 1955. She was the flagship of the Portuguese White Fleet, supporting the cod fishermen of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and off Greenland, and besides hospital service she acted as a mail ship, tug and icebreaker. After her last trip to Newfoundland in 1973 she was laid up in Lisbon until a 1997 campaign saved her from demolition, and since 1998 she has been a museum ship, moored in the fishing harbour.
Photo: ZSPNrdwa Krosno from Krosno, Polska — CC BY 2.0 Praça da República, the old Praça da Rainha, is the historical centre of Viana, and this Renaissance granite fountain stands in the middle of it. The town council hired the Porto stonemason João Lopes the Elder to build it in 1553, and it is an almost direct copy of his fountain at Caminha. It has been a National Monument since 1910, and it faces the former town hall, the Paços do Concelho.
Photo: Lídia Maria Faria — CC BY-SA 4.0 Look up at the façade of the old Misericórdia hospice: two tiers of loggias held up by sculpted columns, resting on a graceful arcade. It was designed by João Lopes the Younger, and the tourism guide calls it a valuable and original example of civil architecture. The Igreja da Misericórdia stands next to it, with a richly decorated interior.
Photo: Krzysztof Golik — CC BY-SA 4.0 This is a 15th-century church that kept a Romanesque look, with two large battlemented towers flanking the façade. The Gothic portal has archivolts carved with scenes of the Passion of Christ and sculptures of the Apostles. Inside, three arches on pillars divide the aisles, and the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament is attributed to the stonemason João Lopes the Elder.
Photo: Joseolgon — CC0 Portuguese Wikipedia calls this Romanesque church of the 13th century the first mother church of Viana. Canon Domingos de Campos Sares restored and extended it in 1719, which gave it roughly the form it has today. Blue tile panels on the front show Our Lady of Guidance and the Crucified Christ.
Photo: Joseolgon — CC BY-SA 4.0 The theatre opened on 29 April 1885, after a group of townspeople formed a company in 1879. It is Italian in style, with horseshoe-shaped stalls, three tiers of boxes and a trompe l'oeil sky on the ceiling painted by João Baptista do Rio. It is named after the Renaissance poet Francisco de Sá de Miranda, and the municipality bought it in 1985 after it had fallen into disrepair.
Photo: Joseolgon — CC BY-SA 4.0
Hear the full story as you walk, or create your own walk, in the Alleytale app.