Igreja Matriz de Penafiel (Parish Church of Penafiel), a sixteenth-century temple dedicated to São Martinho, featuring a Mannerist portal with Ionic columns.<p>Igreja da Misericórdia de Penafiel (Church of Misericórdia de Penafiel), a seventeenth-century temple on Largo do Município, classified as a building of public interest.<p>Museu Municipal de Penafiel (Municipal Museum of Penafiel), housed in the Paço de Pereira do Lago, with rooms dedicated to archaeology, ethnography and local history.
about the place
Penafiel is the seat of the municipality of the same name, in the district of Porto, in the Vale do Sousa. The parish spreads across terraced land, vineyards, and the courses of the rivers that run through the region, serving as the administrative and urban centre for the surrounding area. Ancient paths and settlements that mark centuries of human occupation in this territory converge all around it.
history
Penafiel was once known as Arrifana do Sousa, and it was under its current name that it earned its place in the history of Tâmega e Sousa. In 1770, during the reign of King José I, it was granted city status and, in the same year, raised to an episcopal see. The Igreja da Misericórdia (Church of Igreja da Misericórdia) was chosen as the cathedral, at a moment when the town found itself, quite suddenly, on the country's religious map.<p>The glory was short-lived. During the reign of Queen Maria I the diocese was dissolved and reintegrated into Porto, but the city did not lose what it had gained: the standing of an urban centre with churches, manor houses and an identity of its own. To this day, the municipal holiday falls on 11 November, the feast of São Martinho, patron saint of the city.<p>Penafiel includes the Igreja Matriz, and the churches of Igreja do Carmo, Igreja da Misericórdia, Igreja do Calvário, Igreja da Ajuda and Igreja do Sameiro, as well as the pelourinho (pillory). Across the municipality, the heritage extends far beyond the centre: the monastery of Paço de Sousa, the sanctuary of Nossa Senhora da Piedade, the hillfort of Monte Mozinho, the dolmen of Santa Marta, the bridge of Cepeda, and manor houses such as those of the Brandões and the Balsemões tell centuries of settlement and faith.
