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From Gallaecia to the Euro-Region
Baroque in Portugal
House of the Raio (Braga)
In Portugal, Baroque was a style with a prominent diffusion, which spread
across places that Mannerism had already reached in a way or another. This
style spread since the end of the 17th century until the 18th century, and an
intense, constructive activity, both religious and civil, turned Porto in the capital
of the Portuguese Baroque. An architect strongly stood out in this moment, the
Italian Nicolau Nasoni, who made numerous buildings, such as the face of the
church of the Misericordia and the ensemble of the Clérigos, with its outstanding
75 metres high tower. In Matosinhos, he also remodelled the Igreja Matriz,
which came from the Renaissance period and which adapted itself completely to
the new Baroque taste through a rich ornamentation where gold prevailed. But it
was, undoubtedly, in the façade, where the features of the monumental Baroque
of Nasoni were best noticeable
Besides the works where he took part directly, his influence is visible in other ones
of the period. We can see religious architecture in the different reforms of
the cathedral, the church of the Terciarios del Carmen or the office-home
of the Orden Tercera de San Francisco. Together with them, palaces show
the power of the local elites, like the Episcopal palace, which was rebuilt, or the
ones of São João Novo and of Freixo.
The relevance of the architectural
renovation that Baroque meant in
Porto was continued in the decade of
the sixties with the creation of the Board
of Public Works. João de Almada e
Melo was named military commander
and a re-ordering of the urban space
was considered according to more
rational standards. The singularity was
that it is one of the first plans that tried
to cover the whole of a city in Europe
at the time. The axe around which it
should be organized started in the
Ribeira Square, towards the Campo
de Santo Ovídio, the current República
Square.
In Braga, Baroque was characterised
by its great originality and the
existence of an over-elaborated
language, a precedent of Rococo.
In its origin and diffusion, this style
counted on the sponsorship of the
bishops of the city, so it was a mostly
religious art. In the middle of the
century, it is highlighted the figure of
André Soares, an architect who began
his work in 1753 in the façade of the
church of Santa María Madalena in
Falperra. Excellent examples of civil
architecture are also his works, such
as the Casa da Câmara and the Casa
do Raio.
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