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PocketSights / Vila Real de Santo António - Architecture

Vila Real de Santo António - Architecture

Walking
21 Stops
Cover for Vila Real de Santo António - Architecture
Preview Tour

Tour Overview

Discover one of Europe's earliest examples of Enlightenment urban planning.

Founded in 1774 by the Marquis of Pombal after the Lisbon earthquake, Vila Real de Santo António was designed according to the rational principles of the Enlightenment. Its perfectly orthogonal street grid, central square and standardized buildings made the town a model of eighteenth-century urban planning, inspired by the reconstruction of Lisbon's Baixa Pombalina.

This walking tour explores the city's unique urban layout and its architectural evolution—from elegant Pombaline buildings to remarkable twentieth-century architecture by Manuel Gomes da Costa, who was born here and later became one of the Algarve's most influential Modernist architects.

Discover in 21 projects, how more than two centuries of architecture have shaped this fascinating border town, where history, urban planning and modern design come together on the banks of the Guadiana River. Starting at the Railway Station from architect Cottinelli Telmo.

Stops

  1. Stop 1: Railway Station - architect Cottinelli Telmo -1945

  2. Stop 2: Apartment Building Angola - architect Manuel Gomes da Costa

  3. Stop 3: Apartment building Eufemia - architect Manuel Gomes da Costa

  4. Stop 4: Apartment Building Afonso - architect Manuel Gomes da Costa

  5. Stop 5: Apartment Building Ayamonte - architect Manuel Gomes da Costa

  6. Stop 6: Mustard Building - Aurora Arquitectos + Furo

  7. Stop 7: Casa Folque / Ramirez - architect Raul Lino

  8. Stop 8: Rose Building - Aurora Arquitectos + Furo

  9. Stop 9: Border station Vila-Real de Santo-António - architect Carlos João Chambers Ramos

  10. Stop 10: Bank of Portugal / Public Security Police (PSP) - architect: Adães Bermudes -1924

  11. Stop 11: House on Rua Dr. Manuel de Arriaga

  12. Stop 12: Apartment Building Camilo Castelo Branco - architect Manuel Gomes da Costa

  13. Stop 13: Apartment Building Ramirez - architect Manuel Gomes da Costa.

  14. Stop 14: Apartment Building Oliveira Martins - architect Manuel Gomes da Costa.

  15. Stop 15: The Grand House - architect Ernesto (Ernst) Korrodi

  16. Stop 16: Praça do Maquês de Pombal & More - 1773

  17. Stop 17: Cultural Center António Aleixo - architect Morando Severo - 1927

  18. Stop 18: Public bathhouse

  19. Stop 19: Holiday House MGdCosta - architect Manuel Gomes da Costa - 1998-2005

  20. Stop 20: Building of the Captaincy of the Port - 1928/1939

  21. Stop 21: Apartment Building Andrade - architect Manuel Gomes da Costa

Map