Viseu Things to Do

Dominated by Carmo church, this wide and irregular square is composed by several other interesting elements :
- A pillory from 1563
- The fountain of Sainte Cristhine
- A remain of the old walls
- The "Conciliar" seminary
- The yellow house

This church, inaugurated in 1738 was the result of divergences among Franciscan monks, leading to a new order - Carmo. It is a very nice church, with a rich interior - gilded altars, painted ceilings and Rococo tiles are the highlights.

Almost as old as Portugal, this cathedral suffered many modifications, since the initial construction, in the 12th century, under our first king - Afonso Henriques. The initial Gothic is still present, together with the sucessive adding covering the evolution of styles - Manueline, Renaissance and Baroque.

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Vasco Fernandes, who lived in the end of the 15th century and beginning of the 16th, and supposedly born in Viseu, is one of the top Portuguese painters of his epoch. His masterpiece is a portrait of St Peter, famous for its symmetric conception.

No surprise that the main museum in town, close to the cathedral, and showing his work and more, took his name - Grão means... great.

For some reason we don't have a picture of this. I think it was because the light was fading and we were a bit tired after the Grao Vasco Museum. Nice to look at, the Ingreja has a Baroque facade while the Se has a more Romanesque look. Interesting to look at in the same square.

A very worthwhile museum! It isn't very large, but quite charming in a small town. Open Wed through Sun 10-6pm and Tues 2-6. It features works of 'The Great Vasco', Vasco Fernandes whose paintings originally adorned the cathedral in the town. The style is referred to as Portuguese Primitives, based on the influence of Flemish painters. The paintings are quite beautiful. There is more than just paintings (including jewelry, sculptures etc..) all from different time periods. There is a cafe that we didn't go to as we were going to dinner soon. They were shutting down and cleaning up, but the woman cheerily informed us that we could grab a cup of coffee and snack if we wanted to before she closed up.
3 euros to get in. I think its free on Sunday before 2 PM.

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I was looking for what the Rough Guide wrote as the jumble of alleys behind the cathedral still untouched by thebeautifications of the buildings around the approach to the old town from the Prac de Republica (Rossio) saying that suddenly you come acros sixteenth centurey stone mansions .
I only got as far as a lovely leafy street of huge but striking mansions near the grounds around the Municipal Stadium near the youth hostel where i stayed, and some old buildings near the river with the old town giving a good background on the hill behind them.

A majestosa Igreja da Misericórdia, estilo " Rocaille ", cuja actual construção remonta as séc. XVII. A horizontalidade da fachada é apenas quebrada pelas duas torres sineiras.
No interior, um arco cruzeiro separa a nave da capela-mor. Possui três retábulos, um principal e dois laterais, estilo Neoclássico, pintadosa branco e dourado. É notória a sua ligação aos elementos arquitectónicos, o predomínio das linhas direitas e a sobriedade decorativa. No trono do retábulo-mor repousa a imagem de Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia, que protege um par de pobres ajoelhados a seus pés, obra do séc. XVIII. Na nave, ainda se encontra a banqueta do orgão Barroco, recentemente perdido vítima de um incêndio.