History

A Praça da Ribeira
31 October, 2021 /

Ribeira is one of the oldest and most typical squares in the city of Porto, located on the banks of the Douro River.

Of medieval origin, it has always been quite busy, due to the great economic activity and the presence of a port a few kilometres away.
It was, therefore, an important point of entry and exit of people and goods in the invicta city.

The thirteenth century represented a period of expansion in which Porto grew close to the riverside. Houses, streets, stairs and alleys developed.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the Ribeira teemed with people connected to the multiple activities of the river and the sea, the domain of merchants and a breeding ground for the bourgeois.

Over time it has undergone urban changes. In the 17th century, in an urban plan for the city of Porto, the Praça da Ribeira was altered. Rua de São João was opened, improving the access from Ribeira to the highest part of the city, which, until then, was mainly through Rua dos Mercadores.
Where a 17th century fountain would have existed, a “Cubo” was placed practically in the middle of the square.

Despite all the transformations that occurred in the centre of Porto, the city remained facing the Douro, living in function of its river.

Its intense commercial traffic, always covered by ships, made Ribeira square the economic and social centre of the city.

The picturesque buildings that surround the square and the fantastic proximity and view of the Douro River and Vila Nova de Gaia, as well as the bridges over the river, make this square a place of unparalleled beauty.

Part of the Historic Centre of Porto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991, it is a very popular area with tourists and a concentration of bars and restaurants.

Ribeira is the picture postcard of Porto and one of the most visited areas of the city.

The Bridges that no longer exist…
4 October, 2021 / ,

For many years, the crossing of the river from one bank to the other was made with the help of rafts and boats.

It was only in 1369 that a walkway was inaugurated consisting of boats, an iron chain that joined them and a wooden platform on which people walked.
But there was one major drawback, whenever the water levels of the river rose due to heavy rains, the improvised bridge was destroyed.

The somewhat more sophisticated Ponte das Barcas was built for longer-lasting purposes, designed by Carlos Amarante and inaugurated on the 15th August 1806.
This was considered the first bridge that connected Porto and Gaia.

It was made with 20 barges placed in parallel, connected by steel cables, and supporting a series of wooden planks, with two openings for river traffic, so that boats going up and down the river could pass. Furthermore, it was a collapsible bridge, so it could adapt as the currents of the Douro increased or decreased.

This innovation only arrived in 1806 but it had its end in 1809, the idea was short-lived.

On 29 March 1809, during Napoleon’s Second French Invasion, when General Soult’s army was marching on the city with the intention of destroying it, the desperate population rushed towards the river to cross over to the Gaia side.

With the amount of panicked people on the bridge, it collapsed. The central trapdoor opened and the bridge collapsed.

Over 4000 people died.

After the Ponte das Barcas tragedy, another bridge had to be built.

This bridge was built in 1843 and was named D. Maria II, but popularly became known as Ponte Pênsil, because as the name indicates, it was built on the suspension system or supported by iron, which rises 10 meters above the average water level, and allowed a span of 170 meters,.

The Ponte Pênsil – officially D. Maria II – is a beautiful work for the time, by the engineers Bigot and Mellet.

This was the first fixed construction built under the Douro River, and it was active for about 45 years, until it was replaced by the Luiz I Bridge, which was built next to it.

It was inaugurated in 1842 and demolished in 1887 to make way for the bridge that honoured the king of the time: D. Luís I.

D. Maria Pia Bridge
4 October, 2021 / , , ,

It was designed by engineer Theophile Seyrig and inaugurated in October 1877.

It had 150 workers from Eiffel Constructions Métalliques, and used 1,600,000 kg of iron.

It was the first construction to take into account the effects of the region’s winds, and despite the complexity of the bridge it did not take even 2 years to build.

The dimensions of the width of the river and the surrounding escarpments, required the construction of the largest iron arch in the world, with a span of 160m, and a deck of 352m, 61m away from the average water level of the river. It was a construction at the limit of the possibilities of metallic construction. At the time, this bridge was an engineering feat that dazzled the Portuguese and foreigners alike.

It marked the arrival of the railway to the city of Porto, and the connection between Porto and the south at the railway level was its function. It made it possible to complete the railway connection between Porto and Lisbon which, at the time, ended at Devesas station in Vila Nova de Gaia. It had a profound impact on the economy of the region, as the city of Porto became the hub of a set of important railway lines and allowed the reordering of the urban fabric according to the location of the stations.

The inauguration party on 4 November 1877 was a great success, presided over by King Luís I and Queen Maria Pia, after whom it was named.

The crowds came to watch the memorable spectacle, filling the surroundings of the “work of art”, waving handkerchiefs as the first train crossed the bridge, with 24 carriages and around 1200 people on board.
The safety of the bridge has been amply proven with the passage of trains for over 100 years.
It is classified as a national monument and is the only Portuguese monument on the American Society of Engineering’s list of great engineering works.

With the appearance of the new São João Bridge, the D Maria Pia bridge was decommissioned on 1 June 1991, and since that day it has been patiently awaiting the future, with the restoration of this work of art a priority.

Luíz I Bridge
5 March, 2021 / ,

One of the most important and popular city landmarks of the Invincible City, is the Luiz I bridge.

It connects the Ribeira do Porto to the quay of Vila Nova de Gaia, and all locals know it, and probably most have had the privilege of crossing it on the upper or lower board.

In 1879, they began to think about the replacement of the Pênsil Bridge, which in conclusion they discovered was not as efficient for the traffic that was growing between Porto and Gaia, and in 1881 it starts but only 5 years later it was inaugurated.

The bridge had two inauguration moments: the upper level was inaugurated on 31 October 1886, on King D. Luiz’s birthday; and the lower level was only inaugurated one year later.

The author of the bridge was Théophile Sevrig, a disciple of Gustav Eiffel, and not the author of the Eiffel Tower himself as many people think.

Between 1886 and 1944 anyone wanting to cross the bridge had to pay a toll, and this amount was paid per person.
Road traffic on the upper level was only prohibited since 2003, the year in which it was adapted to the metro.

This bridge innovated at the time by having two platforms that took into account the two different elevations of the cities. The upper level is 395 metres long, and the lower level 174 metres.

This masterpiece, was the bridge with the longest wrought iron arch in the world, for many years – 172m. Only in 2017 was it surpassed by a Chinese bridge.

In December 2019, the Luiz I Bridge was considered one of the 15 most beautiful bridges in Europe by European Best Destinations, a European consumer and expert organisation promoting tourism and culture in Europe, based in Brussels.

Did you Know?

The name of the bridge is a tribute to the King Dom Luiz I, married to Maria Pia, who had already given the name to the railway bridge.

The people of Porto brought forward the inauguration ceremony to coincide with the King’s birthday, but the story tells that the King didn’t appear, which offended Porto’s population, who removed the royal title from the bridge, naming it just “Luiz I”.

The tradition of the Christmas eve dinner in Porto
9 December, 2020 / , ,

Christmas traditions have always had a very special meaning in the families of Porto, but 100 years ago it was all a little different.

The Christmas Eve dinner (dinner on the 24th of December) only existed in the north. In the south of Porto, from Advent, families fasted meat, and this day was spent in strict fasting. Only after the “Missa do Galo” (rooster’s mass) was the supper served.

Porto already followed the tradition of the Middle Ages, with the Christmas Codfish. The family gathered at the table to celebrate the “Consoada” (Christmas Eve), which comes from the verb consolation.

As one could not eat meat, and the codfish was the cheapest fish, the meal consisted of boiled codfish, accompanied with boiled cabbage and potatoes, watered by a good extra virgin national olive oil; the codfish pastries, the stewed octopus, or the octopus rice were other of the most chosen meatless dishes.

But since the 2d World War, only the richest families continued to be able to consume codfish on a regular basis, and for those the codfish became only for festive days.

There is a legend that in Toledo, before the 12 chimes, the farmers killed a rooster, which they took to church to give to the poorest, to have a happier Christmas. So the meat was reserved for Christmas Day (25 December) with the stuffed turkey being the king of this day.
The “Missa do Galo” was not part of Porto traditions, as family life should not be interrupted. In the north no one prayed for Child Jesus at midnight, because at that time everyone was around the octopus and the codfish.

For dessert, the Christmas “broas de natal” stand out, and later the famous “Bolo-rei”, in a round shape, with a hole in the middle. Traditionally, inside the cake there was a dried bean, and a small gift made of metal or ceramic. Whoever got the dried bean had the duty to pay for the next Bolo Rei, and the gift was lucky for whoever found it.

Behind this cake there is a symbolism about 2000 years old. The legend says that the cake represents the gifts that the Wise Men gave to the Child Jesus. The crown symbolizes gold, the crystallized and dried fruits are myrrh, and the aroma of the cake is incense.

This tradition was imported from France, from the court of Louis XIV, where this cake was made for New Year’s Eve and Kings Day celebrations. The Bolo-rei arrived in Porto in 1890 by the Confeitaria Cascais (pastry shop).

Another dessert that a Porto native does not dispense on Christmas Eve is “Aletria”. It has Arab origin and was made with fine pasta, almond milk and honey. It is usually covered with drawings made of cinnamon.

Also the “Rabanadas” are a sweet delicacy in the house of the Porto’s families. Here it is customary to get them drunk with port wine. In the south they are called “Fatias Douradas”.
The first recipes date back to 1611. In the early 20th century they were very common in Madrid, where the recipe came from.
Port wine is the nectar of the Porto’s Christmas, and it is always a good time to drink, buy and offer. Without ever forgetting the choice of the best wines to put on the table in these festivities.

The fire alarm system, in Porto city, in the 19th century
13 November, 2020 / , ,

– HELP ME, HELP, HELP….

Maria das Dores Bernardes, butcher´s daughter, Bernardo, screamed at the top of her lungs, that her house was on fire and distressed, asking for help from her neighbors, who half-walled , lived with her in other wooden houses in Ribeira do Porto.
The neighbors did what they could with a buckets of water and little else, because there was nothing more to do …

Screams of terror and cries of women were heard, crying out for divine intervention …
It took a few hours for everything to be destroyed and the few goods consumed by the fire.

This story of pure fiction, would have been a situation that would surely have occurred several times in the early years of the 19th century in the city of Porto, where a small fire created chaos in the city and there was no one to help the fires that consumed the small houses. It was necessary to take measures so that these fires did not further aggravate the difficult situation of those who, with very little, managed to survive and fires were the worst of all evils.

There were no firefighters, nor fire-fighting cars, and in the absence of electricity (only invented many years later), only candles and lamps illuminated houses at night, increasing the risk of fires, particularly in the closed urban centers.
The scare was permanent and the risks increased, because the population was increasing – they came from the interior, from Minho and from all regions of the country looking for better living conditions which the new industries of the industrial revolution brought to all these people.
The small houses became more and more crowded and the risk increased.
Something had to be done quickly…
It was there that, by agreement between the representatives of the different masters of the city, the City Council and the Cabido, an innovative solution was sought to calm the populations and reduce the risks of fire.
Eureka! Finally a solution…Everyone was called to go to a fire, wherever part of the city was – everyone would be a volunteer.
A contraption was designed, a “device” capable of warning everyone that there was a fire so that everyone could come to the rescue.

FIRE ALARM SYSTEM

Stored inside an iron box, a lever pulled a protected rope inside an iron pipe that would ring the bell of the Church high up there giving a number of rings on the bell announcing the place of fire, so that the whole population would know where to go to help those in need.

A uniform regulation was created throughout the City and depending on the number of times the Church bell rang, anyone who could go to that place would go. For this purpose, a table was created of the number of chimes that the bell would ring, where the fire would occur according to the places.

So, if the fire occurred in the Sé area, the bell would ring 4 chimes and so on. As soon as the bell rang 3 times, the alarm signalled that the situation was under control and everything could return to normal. This system was then set up in various churches in the 50s, in the 19th century, located at strategic points of the city, and it worked well.

Only years later, in 1875 the Associação dos Bombeiros Voluntários was founded in Porto by a group of influential people in the City, merchants and industrialists who, concerned with safeguarding their goods, decided to put their hands to work, and create the best conditions so that in case of fire the firemen could put out the fires. So, no wonder that influential people in the City and with financial capacity to organize an Associação dos Bombeiros Voluntários had been essential to set in motion an organization that would defend everyone from that common enemy – the fire!

Names such as Alexandre Theodoro Glama, Hugo Kopke, Walter Kendall, Alexander Miller Fleming, were essential in the realization of this need increasingly felt in Porto, installing its first headquarter in Rua do Bonjardim.
Specific wheelbarrows were built with water pumps that were carried in barrels and that could calm the anger of the blazes.

In 1876, the publication “O Bombeiro Portuguez” (The Portuguese Fireman) was created to publicize the activity of the Voluntary Firefighters, which was a fortnightly leaf, where the creation of other machines and techniques for fighting fires was taken into account, as well as other news.

Since it was necessary to increase the number of volunteers, in 1872, notices were placed in the City’s commercial houses for recruitment to make themselves available for this noble and altruistic function.

And here comes the registration as a volunteer of a young man of 19 years, born in Brazil in 1850 from a wealthy family who settled in Porto.

Guilherme Gomes Fernandes, developed a remarkable evolution in the creation of conditions for the Voluntary Firemen of Porto until his death in 1902 in Lisbon, following a septicaemia after a surgery.
He is honoured in a square that carries his name (ancient Santa Teresa Square), where a bust keeps his memory forever.

Well…

As for the “contraptions” they no longer have any reason to exist and to fulfil their role, rusting and almost lost forever, and I say almost, because fortunately, some have been recovered recently and put into operation as at the time they were created, such as the one on the façade of S. Lourenço Church, in the Cathedral, among other cases which it is pleasing to note and continue to protect because they are already part of the history of the City.

Today they no longer play their role of fire alarm, but keep alive the memories of the city that are always worth preserving.

Writers’ route through Porto ( António Nobre )
13 November, 2020 / ,

António Pereira Nobre Portuguese poet, born in Porto on August 16, 1867, at Rua de Santa Catarina, 467-469. Son of wealthy bourgeois, he lived his childhood and adolescence between Leça da Palmeira, Foz do Douro, Póvoa de Varzim, Lixa or Seixo.

He studied in several schools in the Porto and attended the main centres of the bohemian city. He started writing very early and published numerous poems in newspapers and magazines. His first poems date from 15 years of age.

In 1888 he enrolled in the law course of the University of Coimbra, but he did not fit in with the student life of Coimbra, and he was disappointed with the academic environment and university life, and failed twice.

In 1890 he went to Paris, where he met Eça de Queirós, and graduated in Political Science from the Sorbonne in 1895.

It was in the solitude of Paris, and experiencing financial difficulties, that she wrote many of the poems of the poetry collection “Só”, his only published work in life – one of the great landmarks of 19th century Portuguese poetry, and a mandatory reference in Portuguese Literature, which influenced great names of Portuguese modernism such as Fernando Pessoa or Florbela Espanca.

A victim of pulmonary tuberculosis, he died in Foz do Douro, on March 18, 1900, at the age of 32, at the home of his brother Augusto Nobre, a renowned biologist and professor at the University of Porto.

In the middle of the Cordoaria Garden, on 26 March 1927, a bust was inaugurated by the Porto poet, António Nobre, by Tomás Costa.
In a solitary place, we see a beautiful small bronze bust, which immortalizes his face, with its peculiar characteristic smile, sensitive, delicate, sad and melancholic
On a kind of altar, it rests on a marble pedestal with bouquets of flowers, and an allegorical lyre to its poetic inspiration, which is under a granite base with three steps.

Abel Salazar house museum
13 November, 2020 / , ,

Located in S. Mamede Infesta, it is a construction from the end of the XIX century. An 17th century chapel is attached, which served as a workshop for the patron. It was in this house that the last years of existence of the Portuguese scientist and professor passed.
In the permanent exhibition of the house, in addition to the collection of paintings, drawings and prints, there are utensils and scientific writings by Abel Salazar, as well as original pieces of furniture from the house.

The Casa-Museu restores part of the patron’s family atmosphere, through personal objects and portraits, as well as testimonies of the activity of the researcher, pedagogue and disseminator of civic interventions, through letters, manuscripts, typographic proofs, newspapers and magazines where he collaborated.
The doctor’s library and the Alberto Saavedra library are also located in the house, with a specialized documentary background on the life and work of Abel Salazar.

In the garden, there is the Calouste Gulbenkian Pavilion, with a regular program of exhibitions with contemporary artists.
It was Abel Salazar’s friends and admirers who, after his death, thought that the greatest tribute they could pay him was to transform his home into a foundation.
Several initiatives were undertaken to raise funds in the task of defending and publicizing the Work of Abel Salazar, including the purchase of the house for transformation into a museum. But it was only almost 11 years later that the “Sociedade Divulgadora da Casa-Museu Abel Salazar de S. Mamede Infesta” was created.
However, the difficulties continued and the Sociedade Divulgadora appealed to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which acquired, in 1965, all artistic, literary and scientific work and the property and l

and attached to the Casa-Museu.
During the period that belonged to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the house was closed to the public for restoration works, construction of the guardhouse and the pavilion for periodic exhibitions.
In 1975, the Foundation was no longer able to assume the responsibilities of the House and raises the question of the Casa-Museu being donated to the University of Porto, which was superiorly authorized to accept the donation.

The Abel Salazar House-Museum, under the supervision of the University of Porto, is run with the support of a Sociedade Divulgadora, a cultural entity and considered to be of Public Utility. Centered on the human, social and artistic value of the patron, the Casa-Museu aims to stimulate interest in the work of Abel Salazar in the different branches he cultivated, to activate the publication of studies around the different skills of the scientist, to foster collaboration with schools and cultural and recreational organizations, to complete the work of inventorying and investigating the literary estate both published and unpublished, assuming itself as an irreplaceable information and research center for the artist and scientist Abel Salazar.

Abel Salazar
13 November, 2020 / , ,

Abel de Lima Salazar was not only the doctor and scientific researcher, until today known for his achievements, but also a writer, art critic, essayist and visual artist. Despite his name being inextricably linked to Porto, Guimarães was the city that saw him born on July 19, 1889.

Student of excellence, Abel Salazar finishes the medical course at the Medical-Surgical School of Porto presenting his inaugural thesis “Essay on Philosophical Psychology” which ends up classified with 20 values.

At the age of 30, 3 years after completing his studies, he is appointed Full Professor of Histology and Embryology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, eventually founding and directing the University’s Institute of Histology and Embryology, still in operation today.

His research work was quickly recognized and disseminated, reaching worldwide fame, due to numerous publications of articles in scientific magazines, Portuguese and foreign.

As a researcher, he contributed, in particular, with works related to the structure and evolution of the ovary, creating the now famous, and still used, Salazar’s tano-ferric staining method.

However, the work so intense that he developed, even in very adverse conditions, led to an exhaustion and the interruption of this activity, for a period of four years.
He would then end up dedicating himself diligently to the elaboration and publication of scientific texts, also focusing on the artistic practice of which he was a notable representative, especially in painting, engraving and hammered copper.

This multifaceted man, whose motto was “The Doctor who only knows Medicine, nor Medicine knows”, one of the greatest Portuguese intellectuals of his time, only in 1941, was reinstated at the University, in the laboratory of the Faculty of Pharmacy of Porto.

He died in 1946, in Lisbon, where he was being treated for lung cancer. He was 57 and a heavy smoker. The body was transferred to the city of Porto, where it was deposited at the Prado Repouso Cemetery.

Nowadays, its name is immortalized through the Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, the square, where the Santo António Hospital is located , Secondary Schools and the Abel Salazar House-Museum.

Commercial Association of Porto – since 1834
7 October, 2020 / , ,

Despite the fact that it was officially founded in December 1834, the Commercial Association of Porto which dates back to the twelfth century, when trade and tradesmen, especially in coastal areas, were gaining more power.

Over the centuries, owing to its strategic location and the entrepreneurial spirit of its people, the city of Porto acquired great importance, becoming an important financial center in Europe and the world. It was at this stage that a shared “Trust fund” was established, created by merchants to cover risks and shipment losses of their commodities. This fund was recognized in 1295 by King Dinis and in 1402 by King John I.

However, until 1834 there was no organization of traders with legal status and competent to meet the needs of local entrepreneurs. At this point, meetings, the exchange of information, business and auctions were held in the “Juntina”, located at the then Rua dos Ingleses. After the Liberal Revolution of 1822 and the enactment of the Commercial Code, the Juntina was the basis of the founding of the Porto Commercial Association, which is currently the second oldest Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Portugal mainland.