Porto City Hall

The Town Hall of Porto

The Porto audio-guided tour presents you with the Town Hall, an imposing building topped by a seventy-metre tower, which dominates the Avenida dos Aliados.

A civic palace of the twentieth century

Built between 1920 and 1957, this robust six-storey building, topped by a seventy-metre tower, is the Town Hall of Porto. With its appearance of a great palace, it expresses the power of the second largest city of Portugal. Before it stands the monument dedicated to Almeida Garrett, a writer and poet born in Porto, considered the pioneer of Portuguese Romanticism. If he sits enthroned here, and not before a theatre or a library, it is because he also played an important political role: very committed to the liberal movement of his time, influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment and the revolutions, he worked towards the advent of a new regime. The location of his statue thus underlines his democratic values as much as his literary work.

What there is to see

The Town Hall of Porto imposes its silhouette of a civic palace and its high tower at the end of the Avenida dos Aliados. Before it, the blue letters "PORTO" and the monument to Almeida Garrett offer a fine photo spot. It is a witness of the rise of the city in the twentieth century and a major landmark of the centre, to be discovered along the walk.

Practical information

The Town Hall of Porto is at the top of the Avenida dos Aliados, in the centre of the city. Its façade and the monument to Almeida Garrett can be contemplated freely from the square, at all hours and on the level.

When was the Town Hall of Porto built?

Between 1920 and 1957; it is topped by a seventy-metre tower and dominates the Avenida dos Aliados.

Who was Almeida Garrett?

A writer and poet born in Porto, a pioneer of Portuguese Romanticism, also committed to the liberal movement of his time.