Casa do Infante – Museu
Gallery / Photos
Description
The Casa do Infante owes its name to the fact of being the birthplace of Infante D. Henrique, the Navigator. It is a set of buildings built through time to settle the services of the Crown in Porto. Its history goes back to 1325, when King Afonso, the 4th, ordered the construction of the Crown’s Warehouse, against the will of the Bishop, D. Hugo, Lord of the Borough.
The building was renewed and musealized and presently it offers a set of diversified services: Museum, Municipal Historical Archive, Thematic Library about Porto, Memory Room, Exhibition Room and an Auditorium. The museum includes a ‘Prince Henry the Navigator and the New Worlds’ section where visitors can learn about the Prince by examining his iconography diachronically up until the present day and by revisiting the chief milestones in the Portuguese maritime discoveries, with a special focus on the role of the city and people of Porto.
They can also learn about the Roman occupation from the 4th-5th century remains; the Alfândega Régia, or royal customs house, built by King Afonso IV in 1325; and the Casa da Moeda, or mint, which began operating in 1369.
