Largo de São Domingos, Porto

A public apology gives Largo de São Domingos an unusually powerful role in Lisbon’s civic landscape. A monument unveiled here in 2008 names Lisbon a City of Tolerance in 34 languages. It honors Judaism and asks forgiveness for the failure to prevent the 1506 Lisbon massacre.

The square sits inside the line of Lisbon’s former Fernandine walls, in the parish of Santa Maria Maior. The church here was once part of Lisbon’s Dominican convent, founded in 1242, and it gave the square its name. Both the church and the entrance to the Palácio de São Domingos have National Monument status.

The palace is linked with Dom Antão de Almada, whose name is carried by the street leading from here toward Praça da Figueira; he met with the Forty Conspirators in the days before the uprising of 1 December 1640. This is also a social crossroads, long used by visitors from abroad, including many Africans with roots in Portugal’s former overseas territories. If you choose to stop, the ginjinha tavern here has been open since 1840—a compact taste of a square where faith, memory, politics, and daily life meet.