Versão portuguesa aqui.

GPS 41.80574500616375, -6.752985153963194

The former Episcopal Palace of the city of Bragança and current Abade de Baçal Regional Museum (named after one of its most distinguished directors) was built in the 17th century, at a time when the titular bishop of the Diocese of Miranda do Douro governed the Mitra de Bragança, settling annually in Bragança for about six months.

However, the space occupied by such illustrious prelates did not have enough dignity, so there was a need to remodel and expand it, taking advantage of the old facilities for this purpose and annexing new ones. This resulted in the first intervention of the 18th century, a work sponsored by Bishop D. João de Sousa Carvalho.

This campaign was contracted and carried out in 1734 by the carpenter António da Costa Soares and the master stonemason António Alves Lagido. The second intervention took place in the 2nd half of the 18th century, carried out by D. Friar Aleixo de Miranda Henriques and focused on enlarging the previous constructions and on the decorative renovation of the episcopal chapel. At the same time, the complex process of transferring the bishopric from Miranda do Douro to the emerging and renewed city of Bragança took place, which took place between 1774 and 1776. After the republican triumph of 1910, the Brigantine Episcopal Palace was abandoned. In 1915, the building received the archive of the Civil Registry, the National Republican Guard and the Library of Bragança.

In the same year, through a decree dated 13 November, the Regional Museum of Abade de Baçal was established, consisting of a diverse collection of sacred and secular art, ethnography, archeology and also the collections of the Municipal Museum of Bragança .

However, the latter's collections would only be integrated in 1927. But the diversity of services installed here accentuated the degradation of the building, already mistreated. In 1928, with the Abbot of Baçal already director of the museum, the Directorate General for National Buildings and Monuments (D.G.E.M.N.) was alerted to the evident deterioration of the old episcopal palace. Small interventions did not sustain the precarious condition of the building and the interesting museum collections. In 1935, the G.N.R. abandoned the old installations, and two years later, the building's restoration campaigns began, completed in 1940.

This campaign sought to preserve part of the old episcopal palace and create a certain ambiance of noble dignity, typical of the manor houses of the 18th century, although new elements were introduced that reinterpreted the previous volumetry.

In addition to the refurbishment of some facades and internal facilities, this renovation of the D.G.E.M.N. gave the museum's garden a harmonious arrangement, with a symmetrical layout and populated with beautiful boxwood beds. In 1993, the Museum of Abade de Baçal received a new intervention that sought to preserve the previous stylistic eclecticism, while unifying its most dissonant parts, giving an exhibition logic to the exhibition spaces and a corresponding appreciation of its museum collection.

The Museu de Abade de Baçal presents, in its architectural profile, a generic character marked by the interventions of the 18th century, despite the subsequent reforms. Thus, the noble façade is tripartite and contained in its structural and decorative elements, only marked, at the cornice level, by a Baroque coat of arms of Bishop João de Sousa Carvalho - sculpted in the 2nd quarter of the 18th century by the master of stonework João Alves Lagido.

On one side opens the access door to the old episcopal palace, while the façade is punctuated on the main floor by bay windows, protected by wrought iron railings. Inside, some rooms retain part of their 18th-century configuration.

Thus, in the museum atrium, preceded by a round arch, there is a beautiful granite staircase, ending in a veranda formed by two arches and a balustrade. Two rooms boast beautiful 18th-century paneled ceilings, in chestnut wood, inscribed in the center of these baroque episcopal coats of arms.

The chapel of the palace is an 18th-century work and is covered by a barrel vault, made of painted wood, with illusory and polychrome architectural compositions with wreaths, framing another ecclesiastical coat of arms - a work by the local painter Manuel Caetano Fortuna, probably executed in the 3rd quarter of the 18th century. The altarpiece in the episcopal chapel is a composition from the last quarter of the 1700s, with marbled painting on the carved wooden structure, with a canvas on the tribune representing Rest in the Escape to Egypt.

Versão portuguesa aqui.

GPS 41.80574500616375, -6.752985153963194

The former Episcopal Palace of the city of Bragança and current Abade de Baçal Regional Museum (named after one of its most distinguished directors) was built in the 17th century, at a time when the titular bishop of the Diocese of Miranda do Douro governed the Mitra de Bragança, settling annually in Bragança for about six months.

However, the space occupied by such illustrious prelates did not have enough dignity, so there was a need to remodel and expand it, taking advantage of the old facilities for this purpose and annexing new ones. This resulted in the first intervention of the 18th century, a work sponsored by Bishop D. João de Sousa Carvalho.

This campaign was contracted and carried out in 1734 by the carpenter António da Costa Soares and the master stonemason António Alves Lagido. The second intervention took place in the 2nd half of the 18th century, carried out by D. Friar Aleixo de Miranda Henriques and focused on enlarging the previous constructions and on the decorative renovation of the episcopal chapel. At the same time, the complex process of transferring the bishopric from Miranda do Douro to the emerging and renewed city of Bragança took place, which took place between 1774 and 1776. After the republican triumph of 1910, the Brigantine Episcopal Palace was abandoned. In 1915, the building received the archive of the Civil Registry, the National Republican Guard and the Library of Bragança.

In the same year, through a decree dated 13 November, the Regional Museum of Abade de Baçal was established, consisting of a diverse collection of sacred and secular art, ethnography, archeology and also the collections of the Municipal Museum of Bragança .

However, the latter's collections would only be integrated in 1927. But the diversity of services installed here accentuated the degradation of the building, already mistreated. In 1928, with the Abbot of Baçal already director of the museum, the Directorate General for National Buildings and Monuments (D.G.E.M.N.) was alerted to the evident deterioration of the old episcopal palace. Small interventions did not sustain the precarious condition of the building and the interesting museum collections. In 1935, the G.N.R. abandoned the old installations, and two years later, the building's restoration campaigns began, completed in 1940.

This campaign sought to preserve part of the old episcopal palace and create a certain ambiance of noble dignity, typical of the manor houses of the 18th century, although new elements were introduced that reinterpreted the previous volumetry.

In addition to the refurbishment of some facades and internal facilities, this renovation of the D.G.E.M.N. gave the museum's garden a harmonious arrangement, with a symmetrical layout and populated with beautiful boxwood beds. In 1993, the Museum of Abade de Baçal received a new intervention that sought to preserve the previous stylistic eclecticism, while unifying its most dissonant parts, giving an exhibition logic to the exhibition spaces and a corresponding appreciation of its museum collection.

The Museu de Abade de Baçal presents, in its architectural profile, a generic character marked by the interventions of the 18th century, despite the subsequent reforms. Thus, the noble façade is tripartite and contained in its structural and decorative elements, only marked, at the cornice level, by a Baroque coat of arms of Bishop João de Sousa Carvalho - sculpted in the 2nd quarter of the 18th century by the master of stonework João Alves Lagido.

On one side opens the access door to the old episcopal palace, while the façade is punctuated on the main floor by bay windows, protected by wrought iron railings. Inside, some rooms retain part of their 18th-century configuration.

Thus, in the museum atrium, preceded by a round arch, there is a beautiful granite staircase, ending in a veranda formed by two arches and a balustrade. Two rooms boast beautiful 18th-century paneled ceilings, in chestnut wood, inscribed in the center of these baroque episcopal coats of arms.

The chapel of the palace is an 18th-century work and is covered by a barrel vault, made of painted wood, with illusory and polychrome architectural compositions with wreaths, framing another ecclesiastical coat of arms - a work by the local painter Manuel Caetano Fortuna, probably executed in the 3rd quarter of the 18th century. The altarpiece in the episcopal chapel is a composition from the last quarter of the 1700s, with marbled painting on the carved wooden structure, with a canvas on the tribune representing Rest in the Escape to Egypt.