Praca de Liberdade, Porto

Praça da Liberdade flows directly into Avenida dos Aliados, linking this Baixa square with a major Porto thoroughfare. As you walk along the paving, the open sweep gathers the surrounding façades into a single urban room. During the nineteenth century, it became Porto’s political, commercial, and social focus.

The equestrian monument at the square’s centre honours King Pedro the Fourth. Installed in eighteen sixty-six and made by the French sculptor Anatole Calmels, it shows the king on horseback with the Constitution he defended in the Liberal Wars. Along the southern side, Cardosas Palace began as the Convent of Santo Elói after the medieval wall was removed; its imposing Neoclassical frontage is the square’s oldest surviving building. The name Praça da Liberdade arrived in nineteen ten, chosen to evoke the republican form of government.