Porto lacks Lisbon's big museums, but it has a lively cultural scene and world-class contemporary architecture, thanks to its famous school of architecture and its two Pritzker Prize winners, Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura. It is part of the Porto guide.
The Serralves Foundation
Porto's most important cultural venue is the Fundação de Serralves, in the west of the city, towards Foz. It includes:
- the Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by Álvaro Siza and opened in 1999, a white building of light and pure geometry hosting international and Portuguese art from the 1960s to today;
- the Casa de Serralves, a pink 1930s Art Deco villa with interiors by Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann and René Lalique;
- the park, eighteen hectares of formal gardens, woods, a rose garden, a lake, a farm and the Treetop Walk, a walkway among the treetops; the park holds Claes Oldenburg's giant red trowel;
- the Casa do Cinema Manoel de Oliveira, dedicated to the great Porto-born film director, also by Siza.
In early June the Serralves em Festa festival opens park and museum for forty hours of free events.
Casa da Música
On the Boavista roundabout, the Casa da Música is a concert hall opened in 2005, designed by Rem Koolhaas: a huge white concrete polyhedron, with startling interiors including the wood-lined Sala Suggia with its gilded grain pattern and wavy glass walls, and an azulejo-lined room. It is home to the Porto symphony orchestra and concerts of every genre; there are daily guided tours.
Art and history museums
| Museum | Why go |
|---|---|
| Soares dos Reis National Museum | Portugal's first public art museum, in the Carrancas Palace: Portuguese painting and sculpture, with works by Soares dos Reis |
| Portuguese Centre of Photography | Photography exhibitions in the former Relação prison, where writer Camilo Castelo Branco was jailed; free entry |
| Casa do Infante | Birthplace of Henry the Navigator, with Roman and medieval excavations |
| Romantic Museum | A 19th-century villa in the Palácio de Cristal gardens |
| Port Wine Museum | The history of wine and trade, in Miragaia |
| Guerra Junqueiro House-Museum | Furniture and decorative arts next to the Sé |
| FC Porto Museum | The club museum at Estádio do Dragão |
| Misericórdia Museum (MMIPO) | The history of charity, with the Fons Vitae painting |
Interactive and family museums
- World of Discoveries, on the Miragaia riverfront: an interactive themed museum on Portuguese voyages, with a boat ride through the sets.
- WOW (World of Wine), in Gaia: museums on wine, cork, fashion, chocolate and the city's history (see the Gaia lodges).
- Sea Life Porto, the aquarium on the Foz coast.
Architecture to see
Porto is a destination for architecture lovers. Besides Serralves and Casa da Música, see Siza's Faculty of Architecture overlooking the river, the metro stations designed by Souto de Moura, the Leça da Palmeira tidal pools and Siza's Boa Nova Tea House in Matosinhos, the Bom Sucesso market and the modernist buildings of Boavista. See Portuguese architecture.
Tips
- Serralves deserves half a day: combine museum and park and take the bus or tram on to Foz.
- Many museums close on Mondays; Serralves has shorter winter hours.
- The Porto Card includes free or discounted entry to many museums.
See also what to see in Porto.