Guimaraes - Paço Ducal

At the foot of the castle hill, surrounded by greensward, is the large Paço Ducal, the Palace of the Dukes of Bragança, a magnificent Gothic residence originally built by Afonso, first Duke of Bragança, in the French style fashionable in his day (completed 1442). After the seat of the Bragança family was transferred in the early 16th C. to Vila Viçosa the palace lost its earlier importance, and over the centuries fell into ruin. It was extensively restored and rebuilt in 1933 under Salazar and became the official residence of the president in northern Portugal. Its fine interior, with 16th-18th C. furniture, Flemish tapestries and valuable porcelain, is open to the public.