Antiga Cadeia da Relação, Porto - en

Versão portuguesa aqui.

GPS 41.144513849920415, -8.616322958640609

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Created on July 27, 1582, the Court of Appeal of Porto, due to lack of its own facilities, began to operate in the Old House of the Chamber, located on Rua de São Sebastião, in the building that, for this reason, also became known by Paço da Rolaçon. A few years later, the Court moved to the palace of the Counts of Miranda (where it remained until 1608) in the disappeared Largo do Corpo da Guarda, which was at the top of the street that still exists with this name. Judges were forced to wear long beards and not make visits.

The Relationship remained in activity, without its own headquarters, for more than twenty years. In fact, it was only in 1603 that Philip II ordered the construction of a house to receive the Relationship and the Prison. This, too, suffered from the Court's problems - the lack of facilities.

He first walked through Albergaria dos Palmeiros (1461), which was close to the current Rua de São João; appears referenced, in 1490, in a shack between Chã das Eiras and Santo António do Penedo streets, on an artery that was recently called Travessa da Cadeia; later he settled (1504) in a house next to the cathedral and later in the lower part of the Casa da Câmara.

Philip II's order, however, only began to be fulfilled in July 1606, when under the direction of the magistrate Manuel Sequeira Novais, work began on Campo do Olival. The work lasted three years and was largely paid for with money from exiles' remissions to Africa. That is, whoever was sentenced to exile to the 'coast of Africa' could pay a certain amount, redeeming the sentence he served here.

The building, considered huge, cost so much money that during the time of its construction no further works were carried out in the city. However, it must have been poorly constructed because on April 1, 1752, on Hallelujah Saturday, it completely collapsed and the Recção returned to the City Council premises.

Current building

A new house for the headquarters of the Relationship and the Prison began to be built on the rubble of the previous one, in 1765, on the initiative of the governor of Justice and governor of Armas do Porto, João de Almada e Melo, according to a plan drawn up for that purpose. by the engineer and architect Eugénio dos Santos, who was one of those involved in the reconstruction of Pombaline Lisbon.

It was, however, followed by engineering officer Francisco Pinheiro da Cunha, following the death of Eugénio dos Santos. The work cost 200 contos de réis and lasted thirty years, as it was only completed in 1796. It housed the headquarters of the Court of Appeal and served as a jail until today.

It is one of the landmark buildings in the history of Porto. The trowels were named after saints: Santo António, Sant'Ana, for men; Saint Teresa for women; and Santa Rita for minors. The workshop prison was under the protection of the Lord of Matosinhos and the punishment prisons had Saint Vítor as their patron. There were also salons (of Carmo and São José) for men and women. They differed from cells in that they had wooden floors, but you had to pay to stay in them - 1$500 réis.

In the court room there was a chapel because the Ordinances of the Kingdom determined that "the governor will receive a priest, who every day in the morning, will say mass in the house of Relation, in the oratory or place that is ordered for this..." The prisoners listened the mass from prison bars and corridors leading to the lobby. But as there was still no capacity for so many people, mass was held on a Sunday for inmates in certain cells and on another Sunday for those in other prisons.

The Chain of Relationship: source of Neptune.
The Chain of Relationship: source of Neptune.

Distinguished visitors

Famous names are linked to some of the cells.

In number 8 of the so-called rooms of Malta (there were fourteen) passed, for example, the Martyrs of the Fatherland, the Duke of Terceira (António José de Sousa Manuel de Menezes Severim de Noronha), lieutenant of Queen D. Maria II in the provinces of Norte, arrested in October 1846; along with several generals and officers.

Camilo Castelo Branco occupied (1860) São João's room, while Ana Plácido retired to the women's pavilion, both accused of the crime of adultery.

The famous banker Roriz would later enter the cell that Camilo had occupied. And, in the room next to this, Urbino de Freitas, professor at the Faculty of Medicine, accused of having murdered his nephews by poisoning to gain control of their inheritance.

The highwayman Zé do Telhado, the Miguelista leader Pita Bezerra and the political journalist João Chagas also visited the cells of the old prison.

The end of the Prison

In 1961, the new prison establishment in Porto began to be built, in Custóias, with plans by the architect Rodrigues Lima. However, the initial structure was abandoned and the building it was intended to model was never built. It was quickly occupied by inmates of the Cadeia da Recção, for reasons of force majeure and as determined by superiors, on April 29, 1974.

Thus, the new Porto Prison, in Custóias, began to irregularly receive preventive inmates - who were expected to await trial close to the court location, as was the case in the city of Porto - and was expanded to increase its capacity, completely replacing the Relation Prison.

In 1974, the revolutionary occupation of the Cadeia da Recção building took place. Several families and non-family groups sought shelter there and for a long time the building suffered unexpected wear and tear, quickly deteriorating.

Often, the old relationship chain was inhabited by other situations, which is now operated as the Portuguese Photography Center, maintaining the cell where Camilo was imprisoned.

Prisson seen from Jardim de João Chagas.
Prisson seen from Jardim de João Chagas.

Renewal and present use

The Portuguese Institute of Architectural Heritage began restoration work on the building in 1988, with a project by architect Humberto Vieira, but no usage program had, at the time, been established at the top.

In 1997, the Portuguese Photography Center was created and established by the Minister of Culture, which would have its headquarters in the former Cadeia da Recção. The first exhibitions opened in December 1997, with the ground floor serving as an exhibition space until December 2000. On this date, the building closed to complete renovation work and adapt the building to its new functions. The project was entrusted to architects Eduardo Souto Moura and Humberto Vieira.

The Porto Prison and Court of Appeal reopened in October 2001, now housing all the services of the Portuguese Photography Center.

Full list of Geochaching below:

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