Palácio da Bolsa

The Palácio da Bolsa is the most opulent building in Porto, and it was designed to be. In the 1830s, after the cloister of the neighbouring Franciscan convent was destroyed by fire during the civil war, the city's merchant association, the Associação Comercial do Porto, was granted the site, and in 1842 work began on a neoclassical palace by the architect Joaquim da Costa Lima. Building and decoration went on for decades, as successive generations of merchants added ever grander rooms, and the palace still belongs to the association and is used for receptions, conferences and state visits. The only way inside is on a guided tour, which lasts around half an hour and runs in several languages, assigned in order of arrival at the ticket office. It begins in the Pátio das Nações, the Hall of Nations, a great covered courtyard under an iron-and-glass dome painted with the coats of arms of the countries that traded with Porto. A monumental granite staircase, lit by a skylight and decorated with busts, leads up to a series of richly decorated rooms: a courtroom, the former trading rooms, and the gilded salons where the merchants entertained. The finale is the Arab Room, an oval hall in a Moorish Revival style inspired by the Alhambra, covered from floor to ceiling in gilded stucco, arabesques and inscriptions, and still used for official banquets. Children up to twelve go free with a parent, reduced tickets need proof at the entrance, and tickets for the same day cannot be bought online, so book a day or more ahead in high season.

Why it matters: the palace is a portrait of nineteenth-century Porto at the height of its commercial confidence, when wine, textiles and trade with Brazil and Britain made its merchants rich. Unlike palaces built for kings, this one was commissioned by businessmen, and every room is a statement about the city's status. The Hall of Nations, with its arms of trading partners, is a celebration of commerce itself; the courtroom recalls the commercial tribunal that sat here; and the Arab Room, decorated over many years, was meant to rival the finest reception rooms in Europe. The fact that it is still a working building, with events held in its halls, is part of its character.

How to visit: book online at least a day ahead, choose your language, and arrive a little early, as tours leave on time. The tour is short and moves at a steady pace, so ask your guide questions as you go. Opening hours run from morning into the early evening, with shorter hours on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, and the palace closes to visitors on a handful of days each year for official events, including Christmas Day, so check the calendar if your dates are fixed. The building is at the top of the Ribeira, beside the Infante Dom Henrique garden with its statue of Henry the Navigator.

Pairing it well: next door is the Igreja de São Francisco, a Gothic church whose interior is almost entirely covered in gilded Baroque woodcarving, one of the most astonishing interiors in Portugal, with catacombs beneath; it is ticketed separately. From the palace, the Rua da Alfândega and Rua Mouzinho da Silveira lead down to the Ribeira and up to São Bento, so the Bolsa sits naturally on a morning walk through the old town. If you see only one interior in Porto, many visitors choose this one, and the half hour inside the Arab Room is a strong argument.