The Former Harbourmaster's Office of Aveiro

The former harbour master's office of Aveiro

The former harbour master's office of Aveiro is a linear building set at the edge of the water, witness of the multiple lives of a building over the centuries. The Aveiro audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this site successively medieval tide mill, factory of the famous Vista Alegre porcelain, school of industrial design and harbour master's office until 1992, whose stone arches still emerge at the surface of the canal.

History

In Aveiro, the monuments are everywhere, including on the Ria: this linear building, almost set on the surface of the water, is a fine example. With a canal that flows under your feet, as in the Middle Ages, there was here a tide mill on one level. The mill has disappeared, but you still see the stone arches that served as its support, at the limit of the water. Around 1830, the structure was recovered by the porcelain factory of José Ferreira Pinto Basto, founder of the famous company "Vista Alegre", world reference of this artisanal industry. Seventy-three years later, the building was reworked with neoclassical and Art Nouveau references, to host the School of industrial design of Aveiro. But it is above all in the twentieth century that opened the illustrious chapter of the Harbour Master's Office of the port of Aveiro, which prolonged until 1992, the year when the new port was built, six kilometres further, at Gafanha da Nazaré. Deprived of activity, the former harbour master's office knew a period of degradation, but remains a moving witness of the port and industrial history of the city.

What to see

Here you admire a building set at the edge of the water, whose stone arches recall the former medieval tide mill; in turn factory of the Vista Alegre porcelain, school of industrial design and harbour master's office until 1992, it illustrates the multiple lives of a building. The former harbour master's office testifies to the port and industrial past of Aveiro. It is a fine stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

The former harbour master's office of Aveiro stands at the edge of a canal, in the centre of the city, reachable on foot. You admire its façade and stone arches from the quays; the interior access follows the conditions in force, which vary. You discover it during a walk along the water.

What functions did the former harbour master's office of Aveiro know?

Successively medieval tide mill, of which the stone arches subsist, factory of the famous Vista Alegre porcelain around 1830, School of industrial design of Aveiro after a neoclassical and Art Nouveau renovation, then harbour master's office until 1992, the date of the construction of the new port at Gafanha da Nazaré; the building illustrates the multiple lives of a building over the centuries.

Where is the former harbour master's office of Aveiro?

At the edge of a canal, in the centre of Aveiro, in Portugal.