Plataforma das Artes e Criatividade

Guimarães


For the 2012 European Capital of Culture, the old market square was revamped into a multipurpose cultural centre inside a shimmering three-floor metallic building that looks like a bunch of stacked-up boxes. Inside is a permanent exhibit by Portuguese painter José de Guimarães, with items from his private collection of pre-Colombian, African and Chinese art. Check out the room called Spells, with its impressive display of African masks.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Guimarães attractions

1. Museu Arqueológico Martins Sarmento

0.04 MILES

This fantastic collection of mostly Celtiberian artefacts is housed in a former convent and named after the archaeologist who excavated Citânia de…

2. Antigos Paços do Concelho

0.23 MILES

Guimarães’ 14th-century former town hall sits above an arcaded portico providing a most graceful communication between cosy Largo da Oliveira and the more…

3. Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira

0.24 MILES

Founded by Countess Mumadona in the 12th century and rebuilt four centuries later, the beautiful Largo da Oliveira is dominated by this convent church.

4. Museu Alberto Sampaio

0.26 MILES

Built around the serene Romanesque cloister of Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira, this museum has an excellent collection of ecclesiastical art and…

5. Igreja de São Francisco

0.3 MILES

This 13th-century church has a brilliantly gilded and ornamented baroque interior, along with a lovely Renaissance cloister and 18th-century azulejos …

6. Paço dos Duques de Bragança

0.41 MILES

Looming over the medieval city on Guimarães’ hilltop, with its crenellated towers and cylindrical brick chimneys, Paço dos Duques was first built in 1401…

7. Igreja de São Gualter

0.42 MILES

This slender 18th-century construction, with its 19th-century twin spires and blooming run-up from central Guimarães, has the most striking appeal of all…

8. Castelo

0.5 MILES

Built in the 11th century and still in fine form, the seven-towered castle is thought to be the birthplace of the great man himself, Afonso Henriques…