Art Nouveau Tour (Aveiro)

Distinguished as the city-museum of Art Nouveau in Portugal, Aveiro is a member of the “Réseau Art Noveau Network”, along with Barcelona, Brussels, Budapest, Glasgow, Helsinki or Havana.

Discover the charm of this delicate and seductive art period of the 20th century by taking a walking tour with a guide through the Art Nouveau route, a track created to help identifying all buildings and monuments which have marks left by names such as Ernesto Korrodi, Francisco Augusto da Silva Rocha, Jaime Inácio dos Santos, José de Pinho or Carlos Mendes.

Early in the 20th century, when emigrants who had become rich in Brazil began to return to Aveiro, the city buildings gained the first elements of an Art Nouveau inspired style. Here, this new style which was based on the movement which was flourishing in Europe at the turn of the century, was applied mainly in decorative elements in the façades and was mixed into the conservative vision of the buildings’ exterior and interior aspects. The main novelty of the Aveiro Art Nouveau movement was that it mixed some typical aspects of this style into something very traditionally Portuguese: the tile which was frequently used by masters such as Licínio Pinto and Francisco Pereira.

10 Art Nouveau Buildings to visit in Aveiro

Major Pessoa House (Art Nouveau Museum)

Located at Barbosa Magalhães S., numbers 9,10, 11 and Travessa do Rossio. An Ex-líbris of the Art Nouveau architecture in Aveiro, an exuberant mixture of flowers and arabesques made in stone and wrought iron designed by Ernesto Korrodi and Silva Rocha.

Aveiro Rossio House

Located at Largo do Rossio, numbers 3 and 4. Recently recovered building with balconies and windows made of crop and rolling frame stone, where the centre and the wrought iron balcony stand out.

Building of the Ovos Moles House

Located at João Mendonça S., numbers 24 and 25. In this house, the upper floor stands out because of the elegance of its curved windows with their narrow balconies of wrought iron and the floral arrangements which are present in all the façade.

Museu da Cidade (City Museum)

Located at João Mendonça S., numbers 11 and 13. This building stands out because of its imposing stone structure, an exuberant façade, dominated by the central area where an upward assemble dominated by the great balcony with the figurehead of a woman which ends with a delicate dormer. The decoration mixes floral stone motifs with the wrought iron of the window and balcony guards.

Cooperativa Agrícola Building

Located at João Mendonça S., numbers 5, 6 and 7. In this house, the façade is covered with panels of polychromatic tile which shape the elegance of the structure. There is also iron and an exquisite work carved in Ançã stone.

Restaurant Building – Pensão Ferro

Located at Tenente Resende S., number 30. A building designed by Silva Rocha. Its structure represents the symbiosis between iron, glass, stone and tile.

House of the Architect Silva Rocha

Located at Carmo S., numbers 12 and 14. An exuberant residence, where vegetable decorations in the curved frames of the stone balconies and windows are united with the iron structure, with tile panels dominated by tangled and flower layouts.

Hotel Bar of “As Américas”

Located at R. Eng.º Von Haff. A building which mixes the taste of the “Portuguese house” with a decoration divided between wreaths and delicate flowered banners, carved in stone in the windows and porches, and iron cuts geometric in shape. All the façade is covered with a tile cymatium.

Ergovisão Shop Building

Located at Coimbra street, numbers 1 and 3. It is a house where the doors and shop windows have exquisite carved stone frames decorated with wreaths and figureheads.

Bandstand at the Infante D. Pedro Municipal Park

Located at Avenida Araújo e Silva. Typical garden and relaxation area, following an iron octagonal structure. Its decoration is typically Art Noveaux.