City Hall of Viana do Castelo

The current building replaced the original building , located in the square where the Great Church now stands. With the expansion of the city from the second half of the 15th century , the political and cultural centre of the city gradually moved westwards, occupying the land of Campo do Forno. Construction began in 1505, outside the walls, and was probably completed in 1510.

On the ground floor there was a bread and flour market.

That same year, permission was given for the construction of the prison at the back of the town hall, attached to the wall, between Rua da Mesiricórdia and Rua das Padeiras. On the mercy side there was a moat and inside a courtyard. At the end of the 19th century, the prison was transferred to the Convent of São Domingos.

The battlements, of romantic taste, were placed at the end of the 19th century . In 1912, the municipal library was opened in the building, which would be transferred in 1923 to the building of the current Municipal Museum. In the thirties, the Mannerist portal was replaced by an arch resembling the lateral one.

During the first half of the 1950s, several studies and proposals were made for the development of the environment, and in 1956 all the buildings attached to the building were demolished , including the prison, and the Mexia Galvão portal was dismantled, which was to take its place.

The entire building is constructed of simple granite stone , with the ground floor forming a veranda , bordered by three pointed arches, to which correspond three bay windows on the mezzanine.

Above the central window are carved the royal shield , the armillary sphere and a ship, a symbol of Viana, which owed much of its prosperity to the sea.

Willem Vandenameele