Viseu: from the Rossio to the Sé: a self-guided walk

By Alleytale

Granite, tiles and Renaissance painting in Viseu's old town

The Rossio is where Viseu spread beyond its walls in the 16th century, and the walk climbs from it into the old walled town on the hill, where bishops left their mark on the cathedral and on a country residence at the edge of town.

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The stops

1. 1Painel de Azulejos do Rossio

   Start on the Rossio, where a long panel of blue-and-white tiles runs along a wall. It dates from 1931, is the work of the painter Joaquim Lopes, and shows regional costumes, scenes of everyday country life and five images of a castle tower. The Rossio itself was opened as Viseu's first square, among the works that followed King Manuel I's renewal of the city's charter in 1513.

   

2. 2Porta do Soar

   The Porta do Soar, also called the Porta de São Francisco, is one of only two gates left of the seven that once pierced Viseu's medieval wall. It has a pointed arch with a short stretch of wall attached, and an inscription on it records that King Afonso V completed the wall in 1472. Look inside the arch for the niche that holds an image of Saint Francis of Assisi, the gate's patron saint.

   

3. 3Igreja da Misericórdia

   This church faces the cathedral across the square. Building began in 1775 under the master mason António da Costa Faro, who may also have drawn the Rococo facade. Its central body flows into two side bodies, a bell tower on each, which gives the church the look of a manor house.

   

4. 4Sé de Viseu

   Building began in the 12th century, when the bishopric seat was re-established, and little of the Romanesque original remains. Inside, the stone vaulting built between 1505 and 1513 has ribs shaped like twisted ropes and knots, described as a masterpiece of the Manueline style. The ground floor of the cloister is Italian Renaissance work from around 1539 by Francisco da Cremona, commissioned by Bishop Miguel da Silva.

   

5. 5Museu Nacional Grão Vasco

   The museum, founded in 1916, is named for Vasco Fernandes, called Grão Vasco, one of the most important Portuguese painters of the Renaissance, who had his workshop in Viseu. Its main exhibits are the painted Renaissance altarpieces made for the cathedral beside it, among them his Last Supper triptych. It also holds metalwork, tapestry and sculpture.

   

6. 6Porta dos Cavaleiros

   This is the second of the two gates that survive from the seven that once pierced Viseu's wall. In 1844 the town council ordered the old gates demolished to modernize the city, and the walls were classified a National Monument in 1915. Like the Porta do Soar, the surviving gates have pointed arches with niches that once held statues of their patron saints.

   

7. 7Solar do Vinho do Dão

   Bishop João Homem began an episcopal palace on this estate in 1399, and in the 16th century Bishop Miguel da Silva turned it into a grand residence with gardens and woods, on the model of Renaissance country estates. It was the bishops' permanent home from 1810 until 1911, was later a barracks and a prison where the writer Aquilino Ribeiro was held, and since 1998 it has housed the Dão Regional Wine Commission.

   

Hear the full story as you walk, or create your own walk, in the Alleytale app.