Historical Places - Palácio de

Vila Flor
Beatriz Guimarães
Palácio de Vila
Flor
This monument was built in the
eighteenth century whose name
served as the motto for the Vila
Flor Cultural Center, a very
important space in the national
cultural scene that opened in 2005
and allowed Guimarães to be part
of Portugal's cultural itineraries.
At Palácio Vila Flor are the exhibition rooms of this Cultural Centre, which
regularly hosts temporary exhibitions. Its beautiful gardens, that face the city,
have been restored.
The aforemention gardens received,
in 2006, the Honorable Mention of
the National Landscape Architecture
Award in the category Outdoor
Spaces for Public Use. The space
also houses a restaurant and a
concert café.
Palácio de Vila Flor was built by the
city's nobleman Tadeu Luís António
Lopes de Carvalho de Fonseca e
Camões and it was there that D.
Maria II was received. This visit
determined the elevation of the then
village of Guimarães to a city.
In 1884, the 1st Industrial and
Commercial Exhibition of
Guimarães was held there. It
later came into the possession
of the Jordão family. Acquired
by the City Council of
Guimarães in 1976, the
University of Minho was
installed there and, in the area
originally occupied by the
vegetable garden, was built
the Municipal Garden.
Abandoned for years, this monument
underwent numerous interventions
aimed fundamentally at dividing its
interior to install, initially, the
University of Minho, and then various
rooms destined for the creation of art.
None of these interventions aimed at
the rehabilitation and restoration of the
Palace as a whole, so its interior was
degraded.
The passage of time and the weather left
marks on the outside that demanded
requalification. Of the spaces found in
Quinta Vila Flor, the boxwood gardens
were kept intact. This Palace was
remodeled and equipped and is, nowadays,
a part of the Vila Flor Cultural Center.