Erasmus Porto

Avenida dos Aliados, or Liberty Square could be considered as the Heart of Porto. Located in center this elongated square is surrounded by several restaurants and banks. Places of interest on the square are the City Hall of Porto and The Monument of Dom Pedro IV in the middle of the square. 🗿🏛️

Besides these the avenue has many other several monuments along its entire length. At its other end is the impressive palatial building of the Porto City Council, with a 70-meter tall tower, a symbol of the city's power. 🦾

The name of this central boulevard translates as "Avenue of the Allies" and this refers to the treaty between Portugal and the United Kingdom in the 14th century. 🕰️

Praça do Comércio is one of the most beautiful squares in all Europe, opening southwards onto the huge Tagus estuary✨

Until the era of mass aviation, this was Lisbon´s great reception hall for visitors arriving by sea even better able to enjoy its beauty from their vantage points on slowly docking vessels. It was at the dock here that the Kings and Heads of State would disembark when visiting Portugal👑

Prior to the 1755 earthquake, it was called the Terreiro do Paço (Royal Yard). The Royal Palace had been sited on the western side of the square since the 16th century when king Manuel transferred the court down from the Castle of São Jorge (St. George)🤴⭐️
In 1580, Filipe I of Portugal ordered the building of a new square with the work the responsibility of Filippo Terzi and Juan Herrera.

Everything was destroyed by the earthquake. The name Praça do Comércio (Commercial Square) belongs to the Pombal era and represents the new social order that the minister to king José I wanted to favour and promote: the trading, financial and bourgeois classes that had contributed so much to rebuilding the city🌇

In the geometric centre of the Square, and facing the river, there is a statue of José I, mounted on his horse Gentil, the work of sculptor Machado de Castro🤎