Igreja do Carmo

Igreja do Carmo stands in Porto’s historic centre as an eighteenth-century church shaped by late Baroque and Rococo design. José de Figueiredo Seixas created the building between 1756 and 1768, following the influence of Nicolau Nasoni. Its facade combines detailed stonework with blue-and-white azulejos added in 1912. Silvestro Silvestri designed the tiled panels, which depict the Carmelite Order’s beginnings and Mount Carmel.

Inside, a single nave contains gilded altars by Francisco Pereira Campanhã and several oil paintings. The neighbouring Igreja dos Carmelitas is older, with a granite facade, six side chapels and a tiled bell tower. Together, both churches show Porto’s changing religious architecture from earlier Baroque forms to later Rococo decoration.

A narrow three-storey house called Casa Escondida separates the churches by roughly one metre. Former bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen reveal its former domestic use, while the museum also reaches the catacombs. Blue-and-white tiles cover the church’s side wall, turning religious history into one of Porto’s most recognisable architectural scenes.