UNESCO Heritage Portugal

Historic Centre of  Angra do Heroísmo

The Centro Histórico de Angra do Heroísmo is an historic centre located in the city of Angra do Heroísmo, the island of Terceira in the Azores Islands. It is a port with large importance between the 15th and the 19th centuries. The fortifications of São Sebastião and São João Baptista of the 16th century are the only examples of military architecture. It was destroyed by an earthquake that took place on the January 1, 1980, the city was later rebuilt. It was listed in 1984.

Jerónimos Monastery

The Hieronymites Monastery is located near the shore of the parish of Belém, in the municipality of Lisbon, Portugal. The monastery is one of the most prominent monuments of the Manueline-style architecture (Portuguese late-Gothic) in Lisbon, classified in 1983 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the nearby Tower of Belém.

Belém Tower

Belém Tower or the Tower of St Vincent is a fortified tower located in the civil parish of Santa Maria de Belém in the municipality of Lisbon, Portugal. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site (along with the nearby Jerónimos Monastery) because of the significant role it played in the Portuguese maritime discoveries of the era of the Age of Discoveries. The tower was commissioned by King John II to be part of a defense system at the mouth of the Tagus River and a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon.

The tower was built in the early 16th century and is a prominent example of the Portuguese Manueline style, but it also incorporates hints of other architectural styles. The structure was built from lioz limestone and is composed of a bastion and the 30 meter (100 foot), four story tower. It has incorrectly been stated that the tower was built in the middle of the Tagus and now sits near the shore because the river was redirected after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. In fact, the tower was built on a small island in the Tagus River near the Lisbon shore.

Batalha Monastery

Mosteiro Santa Maria da Vitória, more commonly known as the Batalha Monastery, is a Dominican convent in Batalha, in the District of Leiria, Portugal. It is one of the best and original examples of Late Gothic architecture in Portugal, intermingled with the Manueline style.

Convent of Christ (Tomar)

The Convent of the Order of Christ is a religious building and Roman Catholic building in Tomar, Portugal, originally a Templar stronghold built in the 12th century. After the Order of the Knights Templar was dissolved in the 14th century, the Portuguese branch of the order was turned into the Knights of the Order of Christ, which supported Portugal's maritime discoveries of the 15th century.

Historic Centre of Évora

Alcobaça Monastery

The Alcobaça Monastery  is a Mediaeval Roman Catholic Monastery located in the town of Alcobaça, in central Portugal. It was founded by the first Portuguese King, Afonso Henriques, in 1153, and maintained a close association with the Kings of Portugal throughout its history. The church and monastery were the first Gothic buildings in Portugal, and, together with the Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, it was one of the most important of the mediaeval monasteries in Portugal. Due to its artistic and historical importance, it was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1989.

Cultural Landscape of Sintra

Historic Centre of Oporto

The historic center of Porto is the oldest area of Porto, Portugal, classified as World Cultural Heritage since 1996. Corresponds to the urban fabric marked by the medieval origins of the city and includes territories in the parishes of the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, Victory and Miragaia. Despite all the trends and changes over time that occurred in the historic center of Porto, still observing the urban ensemble which is based in the old medieval part provides an image of consistency and homogeneity. Suggests immutability and permanence in time, thus providing a unique example of an urban landscape endowed with identity, strong character and aesthetic quality.

Prehistoric Rock-Art Site of the Côa Valley

The Prehistoric Rock-Art Sites of the Côa Valley are open-air Paleolithic archaeological sites located in a region of northeastern Portugal, along the Portuguese-Spanish border. In the late 1980s, the engravings were discovered in Vila Nova de Foz Côa. The site in situated in the valley of the Côa River, and comprises thousands of engraved drawings of horses, bovines and other animal, human and abstract figures, dated from 22,000 to 10,000 years BCE. Since 1995 a team of archaeologists have been studying and cataloging this pre-historical complex and a park was created to receive visitors.

Laurisilva

Laurisilva or laurissilva is a subtropical forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterised by evergreen, glossy-leaved tree species that look alike with leaves of lauroid type. The members of the Laurel family (Lauraceae) could be prominent, or in association. In Spanish, the word "laurisilva" is used for every laurel forest: Laurisilva misionera, laurisilva valdiviana, Macaronesian Laurisilva etc, even in African an Asian countries of Iberian background.

Many botanical species have similar foliage to the Lauraceae due to convergent evolution. Plants of the laurel forests must adapt to high rainfall and humidity. The trees adapted by developing leaves that repel water. Laurophyll or lauroide leaves are characterized by a generous layer of wax, making them glossy in appearance, and narrow, pointed oval in shape with an apical mucro, or 'drip tip', which permit the leaves to shed water despite the humidity, allowing perspiration and respiration from plant.

Historic Centre of Guimarães

The historic city of Guimarães is associated with the emergence of the Portuguese national identity in the twelfth century. It is an exceptionally well preserved example of the evolution of a medieval town to a modern city with a rich typology edificativa to show the development of Portuguese architecture from the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries with continued use of techniques and traditional building materials.

 Alto Douro wine region

The wine region of Alto Douro and Alto Douro Wine Region is an area of northeastern Portugal with more than 26,000 hectares, classified by UNESCO on December 14, 2001, as World Heritage in the category of cultural landscape and surrounded by mountains give individuals and climatic characteristics mesological. This region, which is bathed by the Douro River and forms part of a Douro wine region, producing wine for over 2000 years, including the world famous Port wine.

Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture

The Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture is a Unesco World Heritage Site. The vineyard is divided into plots (currais) protected by walls (paredes, murinhos). The walls are built with basalt blocks that have been weathered and broken up and stacked without mortar. Viticulture dates back to the 15th century.