Porto Tour - Igreja do Carmo

The Igreja do Carmo was built between 1756 and 1768 in the rococo or late Baroque, style by a disciple of Nicolau Nasoni, Jose de Figueiredo Seixas. The Igreja do Carmo has an outstanding azulejo-covered exterior with the azulejos added in 1912. The tiles were made locally in Vila Nova de Gaia and designed by the artist Silvestro Silvestri. They depict scenes of the founding of the Carmelite Order and Mount Carmel.

The 3-storey house Casa Escondida ("Hidden House") was, according to legend, built so that the two churches would not share a common wall and to prevent any relations between the nuns of Igreja dos Carmelitas and the monks of Igreja do Carmo.

Another, more prosaic reason, and more likely the correct one, is that the building was constructed for purely aesthetic reasons to prevent an unsightly gap between the two churches.

The house served as a residence for chaplains and it also housed the artists who worked on the interior and exterior decoration of the churches as well as doctors serving at the Igreja do Carmo's hospital.

Various secret meetings took place at the house during the French invasion of Portugal by Napoleon and the Siege of Porto in 1832-1833.Read more