The old district capital of Viseu is on the left bank of the Rio Pavia, set in woodland in the famous Dao region. It is an important center for agriculture (grain, fruit, livestock) and crafts (lace, carpets, black pottery). In the 16th C. Viseu had one of Portugal's most important schools of painting, foremost among them being the landscape painter Gaspar Vaz (d. 1568) and Vasco Fernandes, known as Grao-Vasco (d. 1542), who was born here.
Townscape
Its handsome Renaissance and Baroque mansions and palaces, narrow alleys paved with granite sets, flights of steps and intriguing corners lend Viseu a particular charm.
The Cava de Viriato, outside the town center and in the northern part of Viseu, is a big pentagonal shaped park where there was once a Lusitanian-Roman camp. There is a monument to the Lusitanian leader Viriathus who was supposed to have made his heroic stand against the Romans here in the second century B.C.
A broad flight of steps leads up from the Praça da Sé in Viseu to the church of the Misericórdia, a building of pure Baroque, its granite pilasters standing out against whitewashed walls.
The little town of Mangualde about 13km/8mi southeast of Viseu has a 17th C. palace of the Counts of Anadia in the middle of a rather wild park. The pilgrimage church of Nossa Senhora do Castelo (628m/2,060ft) stands on a hill with a view about 1.5km/1mi to the north.
The works of art, pictures, ceramics, porcelain, furniture, etc., collected by the connoisseur Almeida Moreira are on show in the Almeida Moreira museum north of the Praça da República.
North from the Museu de Almeida Moreira, through the Porta do Soar, built in the town wall in the 15th C., is the old town, and at its heart, the Praça da Sé, where it is thought that in prehistoric times there was already a Celtic Iberian fort.
From behind the Cathedral little streets lead down to Viseu's main street, now largely pedestrianized, the Rua Direita with particularly lovely 16th to 18th C. houses, some of them with wrought iron grilles. To get back to this little walk's starting point go south down the Rua Direita then right into the Rua Formosa, ending up back at the Praça da República.
This fair, which takes place mid August to mid September, is Viseu's most important festival. It is a celebration of agriculture, handicrafts, food and music.
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Mangualde, Portugal
